Insurance

OKLAHOMA CITY – Rep. Ross Ford, R-Broken Arrow, this week passed legislation in the House that would allow school districts to acquire communications and alarm systems that can be used between schools, counties, municipalities and law enforcement departments in the event of emergencies or school shootings.  House Bill 3860 would create the School Safety Interoperability Fund that would be administered by the Department of Public Safety. "This would allow school districts to purchase radio and camera systems that can interact with local law enforcement departments and others to help them respond quickly should an emergency arise," Ford said. "When these systems are in place, an officer can literally flip a switch and render instructions and assistance while en route to the school." Ford, a former police officer and director of school security, said the systems could save lives when minutes count. Ford also passed several additional measures in the House this week.  House Bill 3858 would modify the Oklahoma Police Pension and Retirement system, keeping the state in line with IRS requirements on the required minimum distribution age, and raising the penalties from 1.5% to 5% for late contributions to the system. House Bill 3862 would limit claw-backs by insurance companies when pre-authorization for medical procedures or services has been granted. Non-compliance with specified deadlines would result in health care services being deemed authorized. The measures now move to the Senate for consideration. 

Rep. Lonnie Sims, R-Jenks, passed two bills out of House committees on Tuesday.   The House Public Safety Committee approved House Bill 3820, which creates a “whole-of-government” approach to disaster planning, mitigation, preparedness, and response across state agencies by creating the Oklahoma Interagency Resilience Coordination Council.  This council led by the Office of Emergency Management will provide strategic direction to resilience efforts across the state and provide an annual report to the legislature on risk mitigation needs, progress, and priorities across Oklahoma to minimize future impact of natural disasters. The deadline for the first report is October 2025. "When I led an interim study on the Arkansas River Flood Event back in 2019, we learned Oklahoma didn’t just have a flooding problem, we have a natural disaster problem," Sims said. "Improved coordination between state agencies would help our state better prepare for, respond to and even mitigate the risk of future disasters."  HB3820 passed committee unanimously and now moves to the House floor for consideration.  House Bill 1522, heard in the House Insurance Committee, creates the Consumer Health Choice Empowerment Act. The measure would expand choice to healthcare consumers by requiring insurance carriers to provide the “average allowed amount” for comparable health services. Empowered with this information, the consumer or patient would then be able to shop for often more local out-of-network providers willing to charge less than the carrier’s in-network average allowed amount for the same service.  Sims, who has a background in insurance, told the committee that seven other states have already implemented this program with several others introducing similar legislation to do so this year. One specific example mentioned was the state of New Hampshire who implemented the system 3 years ago and has already saved more than $11 million. "Health insurance companies have become the de facto director of care for patients by telling them where they can or can't go for services and what doctors they can or cannot see," said Sims. "House Bill 1522 in a small way puts the power back in both the patients and their physicians’ hands when it comes to personal medical decisions."  HB1522 passed the House Insurance Committee 4-2 and is now eligible to be heard on the House floor.