FIRST REGULAR SESSION

HOUSE BILL NO. 543

93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVES ZWEIFEL (Sponsor), SHOEMYER, DARROUGH,

 SCHOEMEHL, LeVOTA, WILDBERGER, MEADOWS, YAEGER AND YOUNG (Co-sponsors).

         Read 1^st time February 15, 2005 and copies ordered printed.

STEPHEN S. DAVIS, Chief Clerk

1549L.01I

AN ACT

To amend chapter 208, RSMo, by adding thereto one new section relating to disclosure of certain health care benefits.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:

            Section A. Chapter 208, RSMo, is amended by adding thereto one new section, to be known as section 208.230, to read as follows:

            208.230. 1. Any applicant for health care benefits under the provisions of this chapter and any person requesting uncompensated care in a hospital shall identify the employer or employers of the proposed beneficiary of the health care benefits. In the event the proposed public health program beneficiary is not employed, the applicant shall identify the employer or employers of any adult who is responsible for providing all or some of the proposed beneficiary's support.

            2. On or before January first of each year, the department of health and senior services shall transmit to the general assembly a report identifying all employers identified pursuant to the requirements in subsection 1 of this section who employ twenty-five or more public health program beneficiaries. In determining whether the twenty-five employee threshold is met, the department of health and senior services shall include all public health program beneficiaries employed by the employer and its subsidiaries at all locations within the state. The report shall include each employer's name and, as appropriate, the names of its subsidiaries that employ public health program beneficiaries, location, the total number of its employees and dependents who are enrolled in each state-funded health care program, and the total cost to the state of providing public health care benefits for the employees and enrolled dependents of each named employer. The report shall include the names of any individual public health access program beneficiaries and shall be subject to privacy standards under Public Law 104-191, and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, as amended. In addition to filing the report with the general assembly, the department shall make the report available to the public through its Internet website.

            3. Any member of the public has a right to request and receive a copy of the report published pursuant to subsection 2 of this section.

            4. As used in this section, the term "proposed beneficiary" means any individual who files an application for benefits or hospital care for himself or herself; or any other individual on whose behalf an application is filed, including but not limited to children or other dependents of the applicant or other individual for whom the application is filed.