Revision: Aug. 29, 2011, midnight
HB 345-FN – AS INTRODUCED
2011 SESSION
01/03
HOUSE BILL 345-FN
AN ACT relative to insurance payments for ambulance providers.
COMMITTEE: Commerce and Consumer Affairs
This bill allows ambulance service providers to bill for and receive directly reimbursement for their services.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
11-0120
01/03
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Eleven
AN ACT relative to insurance payments for ambulance providers.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Medical Payments; Exception. Amend RSA 264:16, III to read as follows:
III. Except as provided in paragraph III-a, medical payments coverage shall not be assignable to any health care provider.
III-a. Ambulance service providers may bill for and receive directly reimbursement for their services.
2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect January 1, 2012.
LBAO
11-0120
Revised 02/04/11
HB 345 FISCAL NOTE
AN ACT relative to insurance payments for ambulance providers.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The Insurance Department states this bill may increase state general fund revenue and county and local expenditures by an indeterminable amount in FY 2012 and each year thereafter. There is no fiscal impact on state expenditures or county and local revenue.
METHODOLOGY:
The Insurance Department states this bill would require payments made by health insurance carriers for patient ambulance transport services be paid directly to ambulance companies instead of the patient. The Department states not paying the ambulance companies directly is an incentive to have ambulance companies contract with health insurance carriers to receive direct payment, usually at a reduced rate. Allowing the ambulance companies to be paid directly may result in fewer contracts with health insurance carriers and higher payments for ambulance services. The higher ambulance service costs will result in higher medical claims costs to health insurance carriers, higher health insurance premiums, and higher premium taxes paid to the state. The Department is not able to determine an exact fiscal impact. There is no impact on State expenditures as the state is self-insured. To the extent counties and locals have increased insurance premiums resulting from this bill, they will have increased expenditures.