By Rob Moritz
Arkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK — Insurance coverage for surgeries to treat people who are morbidly obese would be available to state employees and public school teachers under a bill endorsed by a Senate panel today.
Senate Bill 66 would create a four-year pilot program to not only offer life-saving procedures but also to determine the economic impact that offering the surgeries would have on insurance plans, said the measure’s sponsor, Sen. Jimmy Jeffress, D-Crossett.
The Senate Insurance and Commerce Committee sent the measure to the full Senate for consideration.
Jeffress said morbidly obese people are those who are twice the ideal weight for their frame, height and gender.
“This will show that there are procedures out there that will positively impact in a way that will bring savings to our system,” Jeffress said.
He said the surgery would benefit the health of those who receive it, but after the surgery their need for medications would drop considerably, which he said would help reduce insurance costs.
Patients will feel better and their work productivity will improve, the senator said.
The coverage under the bill would include bariatric surgery, gastric bypass surgery and lap-band surgery. The coverage would be added to the insurance plans of state employees and public school teachers under the pilot program.
Jason Lee, executive director of the state employee benefit division, told the panel that adding the coverage to the insurance plans would raise rates about $2.93 per member per month.
Arindam Ghose, vice president of Analysis Group, a Boston consulting firm, told the committee that several studies have shown the success of surgery for obesity in reducing diabetes, hypertension and sleep apnea.
He also said studies have concluded that adding the surgeries to insurance plans is cost effective and within four or five years insurance companies save money.
The committee also recommended HB 1525 by Rep. Bobby Pierce, D-Sheridan, legislation designed to help get broadband to rural areas of the state.
Under the bill, rural telephone companies would be able to access the Universal Service Fund, which was created under the Telecommunications Regulatory Reform Act of 1997, for funds to bring broadband to rural areas.
The fund would be supported by a surcharge on long-distance bills.
“This just puts rural telephone companies on the same playing field as the bigger phone companies,” Pierce said.
The bill, which has already passed the House, now goes to the Senate for consideration.
