2005-2006 Regular Session 1st Senate 1955

Summary: The “Lose Your Benefits” Bill, HIMMA is a federal measure that blatantly snubs state health insurance laws designed to safeguard consumers when it comes to medical coverage. Despite the claim that it would help small businesses offer bare bones insurance coverage, the measure would gut state mandated protections of birth control coverage, maternity care, Pap tests, well-child healthcare and direct access to an Ob/Gyn, among many other critical health care services. Democrats were blocked from amending the bill, including one amendment to protect state-guaranteed health services.  The bill was effectively defeated, but its sponsor, Sen. Mike Enzi (R-NV), has pledged to draft a new version for introduction in the future.

What You Should Know: Every state has enacted some kind of regulation over the health insurance industries operating within their borders with a goal to protect consumers. For years, health insurance providers paid no attention to the different ways that men and women use health care services, for instance, and therefore offered no compensation for many women’s health services. States enacted laws that guaranteed coverage for contraception, for preventative medicine, and for maternal health by insurance companies in order to protect women’s health. In this and many other areas of the health care world, such protections have been seen as essential to guarantee that people’s health needs are met. Otherwise, insurance companies are free to enact dangerous policies about what services they will and will not cover in order to simply increase their profits. HIMMA undercuts “…protections in nearly every state that make insurance plans more responsive to the needs of millions of families,” leaving the medical well-being of individuals at the mercy of the insurance industry. Touted as a way to provide relief for working families by making insurance more affordable, the bill’s supporters don’t want you to know that their version of affordable insurance will be stripped of its benefits and will have huge premiums to pay before coverage kicks in.

Primary Sponsor(s): Sen. Mike Enzi (R-NV)

Introduction Date: 11/2/2005 (Senate)

Last Major Action:

Senate: 5/11/2006 Senate floor actions. Status: Cloture on the modified committee substitute not invoked in Senate by Yea-Nay Vote. 55 - 43. Record Vote Number: 119.