HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1189        FILED ON: 1/16/2013

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1025

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_________________

PRESENTED BY:

Denise C. Garlick and Tricia Farley-Bouvier

_________________

To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act regarding the SHINE health insurance counseling program.

_______________

PETITION OF:

HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1189        FILED ON: 1/16/2013

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1025

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_______________

In the Year Two Thousand Thirteen

_______________

An Act regarding the SHINE health insurance counseling program.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1. Chapter 19A is hereby further amended by inserting after section 40 the following section:

Section 41. The Executive Office of Elder Affairs shall assess annually a fee on a health insurance plan for each person enrolled in a health insurance plan as of December 31 of the previous year under a Medicare program that serves Medicare eligible beneficiaries within the Commonwealth, on a health insurance plan for each enrollee under a Medicare supplement contract, or a Medicare Advantage contract, or on a MassHealth plan for dually eligibles, as of December 31 of the previous year, to offset the cost of counseling Medicare and/or MassHealth eligible beneficiaries on their health insurance options in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

All fees collected pursuant to this section shall be deposited into a State SHINE Fund for the implementation of the program known as the Serving the Health Information Needs of Elders, which fund shall be administered by the Executive Office of Elder Affairs.  The Secretary may use up to 7 percent of the fee collected pursuant to this section for the administration, assessment, and collection of that fee. The fee imposed by this section shall be considered an administrative expense by health insurance plans, and shall not be passed on to enrollees in said plans.

The Executive Office of Elder Affairs, in consultation with the Division of Health Care Finance and Policy, and the Division of Insurance, shall determine annually the fee to be assessed on health plans covered under this section. The fee shall be sufficient to cover roughly 25 percent of the annual operating budget of the SHINE program, which budget shall increase annually by the percentage increase in health insurance counseling sessions provided in the most recently completed fiscal year compared to sessions completed in the year prior to the most recent fiscal year.

There shall be established by the office of the State Treasurer a "SHINE Fund" administered by the Executive Office of Elder Affairs for the purpose of collecting fee assessments described in Section 1, and for the sole purpose of funding the SHINE counseling program.

The Executive Office of Elder Affairs shall submit by December 31st of each year to the House and Senate Committees on Ways and Means a financial report detailing the total fees collected through this section per health plan for the most recently completed fiscal year, as well as the counseling sessions conducted by each SHINE site in the program, and other financial information as requested annually by said Committees.