Northington Urges Extreme Caution on Interstate Sales of Insurance
Allowing Georgians to Purchase Health Insurance In Other States Merits Extreme Caution Says Conservative Candidate for Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner 

ATLANTA, GA (January 19, 2010) - Wednesday, January 13, 2010, SB 309 received its first reading in the Georgia General Assembly. This bill would allow Georgians to purchase health insurance in other states without application of, or protection by, Georgia laws. Conservative Republican Candidate for Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner Stephen Northington urges extreme caution when considering such a provision due to its unintended consequences.

“As a fiscal conservative, I strongly support increased competition as a market control mechanism and have great respect for the work Senators Hill and Rogers do to strengthen Georgia. However, I am concerned that the provisions contained in this bill will not have the desired effect,” said Northington. “There are other negative consequences as well. I have been calling for a mandate-free option since the beginning, but we should concentrate on Georgia’s laws rather than opening Georgians to another state’s lack of consumer protections.”

Some of the reasons that this bill could be more harmful than helpful are:

The bill specifically prohibits consumer protections enacted in Georgia from applying to policies purchased out of state. 
There are over 15 carriers currently marketing individual health insurance plans in Georgia, so there is already competition in the marketplace. 
The bill specifically states that such policies would be governed by the laws of the issuing state, meaning that any complaints and problems would have to be dealt with by the other state. Any potential actions of recovery would require representation and probably travel to the other state. 
Georgia has one of the strictest – and most strictly enforced – prompt pay laws in the United States. Since those laws would not apply to policies regulated by other states, the length of time to process a medical claim could increase substantially on these policies. This would have a negative effect on doctors, hospitals and most importantly, Georgia’s citizens. 
Although Georgia has one of the highest numbers of mandated benefits, the costlier mandates exist in most other states as well. Since any policy purchased by a Georgian in another state would still be rated for where the purchaser lives, i.e. Georgia, the savings would not be as high as the bill seems to anticipate, if any existed at all. 
Interstate sales of health insurance policies would open the door to application of the Interstate Commerce Clause and increased Federal regulation at a time when it is absolutely necessary for conservatives to oppose intrusion by the Federal government.

More information on this issue can be obtained by viewing the video at www.StephenNorthington.com dedicated to the issue of selling insurance across state lines.