Session Information

2005 Regular Session Highlights

Insurance

HEALTH INSURANCE

Senate Bill 77 by Senator Cravins (Defeated) would have repealed Act 689 of the 2004 Regular Session. Act 689 stated that where burial policies provided both a full funeral and a face value, the insurance company only has to cover an amount not to exceed the face value of the policy. AARP supported the bill and the insurance industry opposed it. The bill was reported favorable in the Senate Insurance Committee but was defeated on the Senate floor with reconsideration requested by the author.

Senate Bill 185 by Senator Cravins (Act 498) permits certified professional staff in the office of youth services who work with juvenile inmates and who had previously worked for 20 or more years in a parish school system to enroll for health insurance with the Office of Group Benefits. Some school boards offer health insurance through insurance companies other than OGB. This had created a disincentive for employees from parish school boards such as New Orleans and Baton Rouge from moving to work in special school districts, such as the one which provides for training to juvenile offenders.

House Bill 36 by Representative Farrar (Act 505) mandates health insurance companies to cover colorectal cancer screening.

House Bill 319 by Representative Moorish (Act 217) changes the method of calculating homeowner's insurance premiums by the Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation from 10% above the average cost in the parish to 10% above the average in state. The change was made to lower the premiums of certain coastal parishes that had very few homeowners' insurance companies writing insurance in the given parish.