Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that establishes a 2.5% state tax on net premiums from most health insurers.

Highlights:

• Defines “entity subject to this act” or “entity” as an insurance company, health service corporation, hospital service corporation, medical service corporation, health maintenance organization, dental service corporation, or dental plan organization authorized to issue health benefits or dental benefits plans in this state (Sec. 1).

• Defines “net written premiums” as the premiums earned in this state on health benefits plans, less return premiums thereon, and dividends paid or credited to policy or contract holders on the health benefits plan business (Sec. 1).

• Requires an entity subject to this act to annually file with the commissioner its net written premiums for the preceding year, no later than April 1 of each year (Sec. 1).

• Requires the commissioner to calculate and issue to the entity a certified assessment, which will be 2.75 percent of the entity’s net written premiums (Sec. 1).

• Establishes in the Department of the Treasury a nonlapsing revolving fund to be known as the “Health Insurance Affordability Fund”, which must be used for the purposes of increasing affordability in the individual and small group markets and providing greater access to health insurance to the uninsured with a primary focus on households with an income below 400 percent of the federal poverty level, and expanding eligibility, or modifying the definition of affordability in those markets through subsidies, reinsurance, tax policies, outreach and enrollment efforts, buy-in programs, or any other efforts that can increase affordability for small employers and individuals policyholders in those markets, or that can reduce racial disparities in coverage for the uninsured (Sec. 1).

• Requires the issuance of a report to set forth the impacts of the measures taken pursuant to this act on affordability and reductions in racial disparities in health insurance coverage, including impacts by income level, race, and immigration status (Sec. 1).

• Requires this report to make recommendations to increase affordability and to reduce the uninsured rate in New Jersey based on the data available (Sec. 1).

• Establishes that this act will take effect on January 1, 2021, though the commissioner is authorized to take any anticipatory administrative action in advance (Sec. 1).

Full Bill Text

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that establishes a 2.5% state tax on net premiums from most health insurers.

Highlights:

• Defines “entity subject to this act” or “entity” as an insurance company, health service corporation, hospital service corporation, medical service corporation, health maintenance organization, dental service corporation, or dental plan organization authorized to issue health benefits or dental benefits plans in this state (Sec. 1).

• Defines “net written premiums” as the premiums earned in this state on health benefits plans, less return premiums thereon, and dividends paid or credited to policy or contract holders on the health benefits plan business (Sec. 1).

• Requires an entity subject to this act to annually file with the commissioner its net written premiums for the preceding year, no later than April 1 of each year (Sec. 1).

• Requires the commissioner to calculate and issue to the entity a certified assessment, which will be 2.75 percent of the entity’s net written premiums (Sec. 1).

• Establishes in the Department of the Treasury a nonlapsing revolving fund to be known as the “Health Insurance Affordability Fund”, which must be used for the purposes of increasing affordability in the individual and small group markets and providing greater access to health insurance to the uninsured with a primary focus on households with an income below 400 percent of the federal poverty level, and expanding eligibility, or modifying the definition of affordability in those markets through subsidies, reinsurance, tax policies, outreach and enrollment efforts, buy-in programs, or any other efforts that can increase affordability for small employers and individuals policyholders in those markets, or that can reduce racial disparities in coverage for the uninsured (Sec. 1).

• Requires the issuance of a report to set forth the impacts of the measures taken pursuant to this act on affordability and reductions in racial disparities in health insurance coverage, including impacts by income level, race, and immigration status (Sec. 1).

• Requires this report to make recommendations to increase affordability and to reduce the uninsured rate in New Jersey based on the data available (Sec. 1).

• Establishes that this act will take effect on January 1, 2021, though the commissioner is authorized to take any anticipatory administrative action in advance (Sec. 1).

Full Bill Text