Bill Text: NJ S1757 | 2012-2013 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Concerns grant funding for Community Health Law Project; appropriates $100,000.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2012-06-25 - Received in the Assembly, Referred to Assembly Health and Senior Services Committee [S1757 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2012-S1757-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator JOSEPH F. VITALE
District 19 (Middlesex)
Senator LINDA R. GREENSTEIN
District 14 (Mercer and Middlesex)
SYNOPSIS
Concerns grant funding for Community Health Law Project; appropriates $100,000.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning a grant for the Community Health Law Project, amending P.L.1973, c.337, and making an appropriation.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 23 of P.L.1973, c.337 (C.26:2J-23) is amended to read as follows:
23. Every health maintenance organization subject to this act shall pay to the commissioner the following fees:
a. for filing an application for a certificate of authority or amendment thereto, $100.00;
b. for filing each annual report, $10.00; and
c. for the purpose of supporting the activities of the Department of Health and Senior Services associated with the regulation of health maintenance organizations, and as otherwise provided in this subsection, $1.50 per life per year, with payment being made annually no later than July 15 for the preceding calendar year. Payments made by a health maintenance organization pursuant to this act shall not in any way reduce payments that may be owed by a health maintenance organization pursuant to P.L.1995, c.156 (C.17:1C-19 et seq.) and subsequent amendments thereto. No such payment shall be required for any per life per year that is funded through the Medicaid program established pursuant to P.L.1968, c.413 (C.30:4D-1 et seq.) [, the "Children's Health Care Coverage Program" established pursuant to P.L.1997, c.272 (C.30:4I-1 et seq.),] or the ["FamilyCare Health Coverage Program"] NJ FamilyCare Program established pursuant to [P.L.2000, c.71 (C.30:4J-1 et seq.)] P.L.2005, c.156 (C.30:4J-8 et al.).
In accordance with the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), the commissioner may promulgate rules and regulations directing that additional fees be paid.
[From] In the fiscal year ending June 30, 2012 and each fiscal year thereafter, the first $100,000 of revenue from fees collected under the provisions of this subsection [c. of this section, the Legislature] shall [in each fiscal year appropriate to the community health law project the sum of $100,000 to] be used to fund a grant to the Community Health Law Project in support of a program to provide any [senior citizen] resident of this State who is covered as an enrollee in or beneficiary of [a health plan administered by a health maintenance organization] any public health care coverage program or private health insurance plan with information concerning the person's rights under the program or plan and assistance with the procedures for receiving the benefits to which the person is entitled under the program or plan. The Department of Health and Senior Services shall disburse the grant funds no later than July 30 of each year for the preceding calendar year.
(cf: P.L.2002, c.34, s.18)
2. There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Health and Senior Services the sum of $100,000 to fund the grant program to the Community Health Law Project.
3. This act shall take effect immediately and shall be effective for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2012.
STATEMENT
This bill amends the law governing a grant program for the Community Health Law Project, which provides information to health insurance beneficiaries about their coverage, to make the grant funding more reliable and to expand the scope of the purpose of the grant to cover any resident of the State enrolled in a public health coverage plan or private health insurance plan.
Current law provides for a grant program administered by the Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) to provide $100,000 annually to the Community Health Law Project to support a program to provide certain health insurance beneficiaries with information concerning their rights under the applicable program or plan and assistance with the procedures for receiving the benefits to which the person is entitled under the program or plan. In 2011, the Community Health Law Project learned that the grant funding would not be forthcoming for that year because the Legislature had not explicitly authorized the grant for that year, even though such explicit authority had not been demanded or provided for any previous year in which the grant was provided.
The bill removes the requirement that the Legislature appropriate funds for the program in each fiscal year. Instead, it requires that the first $100,000 of revenue from the fee on health maintenance organizations for each covered life be used to fund the grant program and that DHSS must disburse the grant funds no later than July 30 for the preceding calendar year.
The bill also revises statutory language to expand the function of the program that is supported by the grant, in order to better describe the program operated by the Community Health Law Project. The bill provides for the grant to support a program that provides any resident of the State, who is enrolled in any public health coverage plan or private health insurance program with information concerning the person's rights under the program and assistance with the procedures for receiving the benefits to which the person is entitled under the program or plan, rather than restricting the grant-funded program to senior citizens enrolled in a health maintenance organization as provided under current law.
