Businesses object to paying for health insurance ombudsman

Jennifer Coleman

Thursday, March 11, 1999 | 9:43 a.m.

CARSON CITY - Nevada business owners want lawmakers to pay for a proposed health insurance ombudsman with state general funds rather than another tax on policies.

SB196, introduced by Sen. Mike Schneider, D-Las Vegas, would put an ombudsman in the insurance commissioner's office to deal exclusively with complaints about health insurance. It would be paid for with a yearly $1 surcharge on all health insurance policies.

But lobbyists for small businesses and insurance companies argued Wednesday that the bill would only further tax an overburdened industry that already hands Nevada $111 million a year in insurance premium taxes.

During a Senate Commerce and Labor Committee hearing, Schneider said he didn't like adding the proposed $1 fee on each policy but it's necessary to establish the office.

"That's $1 a year, for 30 years, that's $30 and I have access to an ombudsman where I can go to get questions answered," he said.

Schneider added he hated to add another fee, but "to get this started, we have to turn to businesses."

Bob Ostrovsky of Nevadans for Affordable Health Care said the groups Schneider is most concerned with aren't the ones who will be paying for the program.

"We're talking about taking care of seniors who are covered by Medicare, self-insured people who don't pay into the fund," he said.

Since those groups aren't purchasing plans through Nevada insurers, they wouldn't be assessed the yearly $1 fee. For that reason, the office should be paid for by state general funds, Ostrovsky said.

Insurance Commissioner Alice Molasky-Arman said she currently has seven employees devoted to answering consumer service calls. The insurance commissioner's office fields about 4,000 calls a month about all types of insurance policies.

Often callers don't know they have to go through their insurance company's grievance process before the commissioner's office could help them, Molasky-Arman said.

Commerce and Labor Chairman Randolph Townsend, R-Reno, suggested educating consumers on how to purchase and how to read insurance policies would go a long way towards reducing the number of calls received.

"Once they get sick, their world changes. Reading 2-point type when you have bronchial pneumonia isn't fun," he said.

If SB196 is approved, the existing consumer service staff could be supplemented or upgraded to include people with medical or health insurance backgrounds, Townsend added.

Assemblywoman Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, introduced AB310, a similar measure backed by 39 other Assembly members, to place the ombudsman in the attorney general's office. Schneider said his bill and Buckley's wouldn't be merged.