NU Online News Service, Jan. 27, 2:48 p.m.EST

Revised legislation narrowing the proposed exemption of agentcommissions from the healthcare reform law's Medical Loss Ratio isbeing introduced in the Senate.

Officials of the National Association of Health Underwritersdisclosed plans for the new bill during their Capitol Conferenceannual meeting.

NAHU CEO Janet Trautwein said at the meeting that the bill willhave Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., and Sen.Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., as sponsors.

Another Republican is expected to be added as a sponsor,Trautwein said.

John Greene, NAHU vice president of congressional affairs, saysthe Senate bill will have several changes from the legislationexempting agent commissions from the MLR that was introduced in theHouse as H.R. 1206.

The Senate bill removes a provision in the House bill thatexempts commissions on waivers provided through PPACA.

Additionally, it limits the carve-out from the PPACA MLRprovision to health premiums for individual and small groups.

In other words, commissions sold on large groups would notbe exempt, Greene says. “The small group and individual market iswhere the action is,” he notes.

Moreover, the revised bill will not exempt bonuses paid byinsurance companies to agents.

Regarding that last provision, Greene says, “We never intendedbonuses to be exempt from normal administrative or marketingcosts.”

“At the end of the day, the Senate bill accomplishes ourobjective of preserving [agent/broker] jobs and consumer access toagents and brokers,” Greene says.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, also disclosed during acampaign talk at the meeting that the House plans to vote next weekon legislation repealing the CLASS Act, or the Living AssistanceServices and Supports program.

Boehner said in his speech that it was important to get it offthe books even though Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of theDepartment of Health and Human Services, said last October that HHSexperts had reviewed the CLASS program and could see no way to makethe version of the program described in the statutes actuariallysustainable.

The CLASS Act would have created a voluntary long-term carebenefits program, and was part of the healthcare reform law.

After the bill was voted on by a panel, Jesse Slome, executivedirector of the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance,“I don't understand why some members of Congress are wastingtaxpayer money holding this markup when the CLASS Act was alreadyremoved….”

Slome added, “Wouldn't their time be better spent addressingworkable solutions to address the nation's oncoming long-termfinancial crisis?”