40-4702. Same; Kansas business health policy committee; membership; organization; powers and duties.
40-4702
40-4702. Same; Kansas business health policycommittee; membership; organization; powers and duties.(a) The governor of the state of Kansas shall appoint acommitteewhich shall be known as the Kansas business health policy committee, whosepurpose is to explore opportunities and encourage employerparticipation in health plans developed by the committee for low- andmodest-wage employees of small employers.
(b) The Kansas business health policy committee, hereinafter referred to asthe health committee, shall consist of:
(1) The secretary of the department of commerce or thesecretary's designee;
(2) the secretary of the department of social and rehabilitation services orthe secretary's designee;
(3) the commissioner of insurance or the commissioner's designee;
(4) one member appointed by the president of the senate;
(5) one member appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives;
(6) one member appointed by the minority leader of the senate;
(7) one member appointed by the minority leader of the house ofrepresentatives; and
(8) three members at large from the private sector appointed by the governor.
The secretary of each state agency represented on this committee shall providesuch staff and other resources as the health committee may require.
(c) (1) The initial meeting of the health committee shall be convenedwithin 60 days after the effective date of this act by the governor at a timeand place designated by the governor.
(2) Meetings of the health committee subsequent to its initialmeeting shall be held and conducted in accordance with policies andprocedures established by the health committee.
(3) Commencing at the time of the initial meeting of the health committee,the powers, authorities, duties and responsibilities conferred and imposed uponthe health committee by this act shall be operative and effective.
(d) The health committee shall develop and approve a request for proposalsfor a qualified entity to serve as the Kansas business health partnership,hereinafter referred to as health partnership, which shall provide a mechanismto combine federal and state subsidies with contributions from smallemployers and eligible employees to purchase health insurance inaccordance with guidelines developed by the health committee.
(e) The health committee shall evaluate responses to the request forproposals and select the qualified entity to serve as the health partnership.
(f) The health committee shall:
(1) Develop, approve and revise subsidy eligibilitycriteria provided that:
(A) Low wage and modest wage employees of small employers shall beeligible for subsidies if:
(i) The small employer has not previously offered healthinsurance coverage within the two years next preceding the date upon whichhealth insurance is offered;or
(ii) the small employer has previously offered healthinsurance coverage and amajority of such small employer's employees are low wage or modest wageemployees as defined in K.S.A. 40-4701, andamendments thereto;
(B) any small employer's eligible employee with a child who iseligible for coverage under the state childrens' health insurance programestablished by K.S.A. 38-2001 et seq., and amendments thereto, orin the state medical assistance program shall be eligible automatically for asubsidy and shall be included in the determination of eligibility for the smallemployer and its low-and-modest wage employees; and
(C) at least 70% of the small employer's eligible employees withoutgroup health insurance coverage from another source are insured through thepartnership; and
(2) determine and arrange for eligibility determination forsubsidies of low wage or modest wage employees; and
(3) develop subsidy schedules based upon eligible employee wagelevels and family income; and
(4) be responsible for arranging for the provision of affordable health carecoverage for eligible employees of small employers and evaluating and creatingtheopportunity to improvehealth care provided by plans in the small group health insuranceprogram.
(g) The health committee shall oversee and monitor the ongoing operation ofany subsidy program and the financial accountability of all subsidy funds.If, in the judgment of the health committee, the entity selected to serve asthe health partnership fails to perform as intended, the health committee mayterminate its selection and designation of that entity as the healthpartnership and may issue a new request for proposal and select a differentqualified entity to serve as the health partnership.
(h) The health committee is hereby authorized to accept funds from thefederal government, or its agencies, or any other source whatsoever forresearch studies, investigation, planning and other purposes related toimplementation of the objectives of this act. Any funds so receivedshall be deposited in the state treasury and shall be credited to a specialrevenue fund which is hereby created and shall be known as the health committeeinsurance fund and used in accordance with or direction of the contributingfederal agencies. Expenditures from such fund may be made for any purposein keeping with the responsibilities, functions and authority of thedepartment. Warrants on such fund shall be drawn in the same manner as requiredof other state agencies upon vouchers approved by the Kansas healthpolicy authority, or the authority's designee, upon receiving priorapproval of thehealth committee.
(i) The health committee is authorized to develop policies for theadministration of the subsidy program and for the use of additional federalor private funds to subsidize health insurance coverage for low-and-modest wageemployees of predominantly low-wage small employers.The health committee shall be responsible for setting benefit levels andestablishing performance measures for health plans providing health carecoverage forthis program that include quality, preventative health andother supplementary measures. The health committee shall limit access to theprogram subsidy to the projected annualized expenditure.
(j) The health committee is hereby authorized to organize, or cause to beorganized, one or more advisory committees. No member of any advisory committeeestablished under this subsection shall have previously received orcurrently receive any payment or other compensation from the healthpartnership. The membership of each advisory committee established under thissubsection shall contain at least one representative who is a small employerand one representative who is an eligible employee as defined in K.S.A.40-4701, and amendments thereto, and one representative of the insuranceindustry.
(k) The health committee shall report on an annual basis on the followingsubjects:
(1) Quality assurance measures;
(2) disease prevention activities;
(3) disease management activities; and
(4) other activities or programs the committee decides to include.
History: L. 2000, ch. 147, § 48;L. 2002, ch. 112, § 3;L. 2003, ch. 154, § 14;L. 2004, ch. 159, § 15;L. 2005, ch. 187, § 38; Jan. 1, 2006.