Bill to protect patients in insurance reviews signed into law
File photo / Courtesy Office of Gov. Janet Mills
Gov. Janet Mills signed a number of bills into law last week, includinglegislation to ensure that insurance company medical reviews are conducted by medical professionals and several other bills related to Maine businesses.
Gov. Janet Mills signed into law legislation to ensure that insurance company medical reviews are conducted by medical professionals. The legislation is one of more than 20 business-related bills signed into law by the governor last week.
LD 249, “An Act to Ensure Protection of Patients in Medical Reviews by Health Insurance Carriers,” sponsored by Sen. Geoff Gratwick, D-Bangor, was passed unanimously by the Legislature.
“After my late husband Stan suffered a stroke, insurance companies would sometimes deny claims for care without any explanation. It is an unfair, heartless practice that puts profits ahead of the patient’s well being,” Mills said in a statement following her signing the bill into law. “Medical professionals with the same training as the patient’s own doctor should be conducting medical reviews for claims, not an insurance company official. By signing this legislation, we are taking steps to ensure that no family has to justify the need for their loved one’s medical care to insurance company officials only looking out for the bottom line. I thank Sen. Gratwick for putting this legislation forward and for securing unanimous support in the Legislature.”
Gratwick, a retired doctor who practiced medicine for 40 years, said health care laws and policies “should always put patients before profits.”
“The choice of what treatment to pursue, especially when that treatment is potentially life-saving, should be between a patient and their doctor, not the patient and an insurance provider. I’m glad the governor has signed this key protection into law,” he said.
LD 249 requires that appeals of a health insurance carrier's denial of health care treatment be conducted by a licensed health care practitioner who is board certified in the same or similar specialty as the medical condition, procedure or treatment under review and whose compensation does not directly or indirectly depend upon the quantity, type or cost of the medical condition, procedure or treatment the practitioner approves or denies on behalf of a health insurance carrier.
Business-related bills signed into law
Among the business-related bills Mills signed into law on May 30:
- LD 145, "An Act To Expand the Membership of the Wild Blueberry Commission of Maine"
- LD 849, "An Act To Allow Chiropractic Internships"
- LD 277, "An Act To Ban Telephone Solicitations Using an Artificial or Prerecorded Voice and Enhance Caller Identification"
- LD 317, "An Act To Amend the Laws Governing Appointees to the Maine Labor Relations Board"
- LD 417, "An Act To Allow an Attorney To Copy a Driver's License"
- LD 530, "An Act To Amend the Laws Governing Subrogation Rights for Medical Payments Coverage”
- LD 1186, "An Act To Exempt Agricultural Fairs from the Assessment of Demand Charges for Electricity" (EMERGENCY)
- LD 1644, "An Act To Clarify Conflict of Interest Requirements for the Board of Environmental Protection"
- LD 1015, "An Act To Support Maine Craft Distillers"
- LD 1089, "An Act To Ban Discretionary Clauses in Life and Health Insurance Policies"
- LD 1197, "An Act To Amend the Law Prohibiting the Denial by Health Insurers of Referrals by Out-of-network Providers"
- LD 1556, "An Act Regarding Filing Fees in Transmission Line Proceedings"
- LD 1619, "An Act Regarding Licenses for the Sale of Liquor for On-premises Consumption" (EMERGENCY).
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