On Christmas Eve, just before adjourning, the Senate passed a healthcare reform bill by a party-line vote of 60-39. Among items of most concern to agents: the final bill [section 1303(i)] requires the HHS Secretary to establish procedures for agents or brokers to enroll employers in qualified health plans. It also removes the authority to establish rate schedules for broker commissions paid by qualified health plans.

The Senate bill also did not have language repealing the McCarran-Ferguson antitrust exemption for health and medical malpractice insurers. The language was in the original bill but was later removed at the request of Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.).  Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), a proponent of the repeal, then offered the language in the form of amendment that garnished quite a bit of support. But that amendment was not included in the final version of the bill.

What It Means to Agents:  From the outset, PIA has focused on protecting the ability of agents and brokers to continue selling health insurance policies – whether in the private market, or in insurance exchanges. The provision providing for agent and broker participation, along with the elimination of the language that would have let the HHS Secretary set commission rates, is a win for agents and brokers and a powerful demonstration of their strength—and that of PIA—on Capitol Hill. Elimination of the antitrust exemption repeal in the Senate is a win for our entire industry.

PIA worked with the industry very hard to ensure that the current anti-trust exemption is not repealed in the Senate bill – but battle of the anti-trust exemption is far from over. The language was included in the bill that previously passed the House. We will still work to fight any effort to include it in a conference of the healthcare bills or any attempt to bring the language to the floor in a stand-alone bill.

The provision affirming that agents and brokers can sell health insurance offered through exchanges is a particular victory, because when this bill was first offered, agents had actually been banned from participation. The effort to turn around that ban was helped greatly in the House by Blue Dog Democrats such as former agent and PIA member Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-La.). It was also helped in the Senate by Sens. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), both of whom met with PIA on several occasions.

January 8, 2010