Late on Friday, 3/15/13, the Senate Finance Committee posted its agenda for this week and it included confirmation hearings for the appointment of a new Director of ADOI. The appointee is Gerrie Marks, current Acting Director and former Deputy Director of ADOI. ACS intends to press hard on the point that ADOI has refused to enforce the Unfair Claim Settlement Practices Act (UCSP), including the chiropractic insurance equality law, in spite of a clear mandate in law that the Director "shall enforce all insurance laws in this state." ACS will be asking committee members to not approve the new Director unless she commits to enforcing all provisions in the UCSP Act.
This is a public hearing and so you are free to attend and to testify. If you have had problems with ADOI over the past few years, be sure to come and tell the committee about them. If you simply want to register your opposition to the nomination, sign in at the kiosk in front of the hearing room at the Senate and mark "no" on the form. If we can achieve full enforcement of the existing insurance equality law, many of our problems with insurance will be over, thus the importance of this hearing.
If you cannot make it to the hearing, you can watch the live proceedings on your computer by going to
www.azleg.gov and clicking on Live Proceedings. Follow the link to the Senate Finance Committee at 2 PM on Wed., 3/20/13. Tune into the action and see what real life is like at the Legislature. Watch ACS fight for you.
Few events at the Legislature will have as much long term consequence for the profession as this confirmation hearing. For this reason, ACS is lobbying committee members feverishly this week prior to the hearing. You can count on ACS to work hard on your behalf.
To view the live proceeds from the votes on SB 1362, the insurance equality law that failed to pass in the Senate on two different votes, go to the following links:
This bill failed because some Senators believed the lie from the insurance industry that it would turn DCs into PCPs, some preferred to see how national insurance equality for chiropractors would work before they wanted to further change state law, while others voted in line with the Arizona Chamber of Commerce which is dominated by BCBS and took a hard line against the bill.
You can count on one thing for certain: ACS will NEVER give up until we achieve full insurance equality for chiropractors in Arizona. If this is what you want and you are not already a member, join today.
