And health care.

S8357 - Seward looked to provide short term health insurance policies for young adults between ages 19-26 who have recently graduated college or who have lost coverage under a parent’s policy. The bill passed the senate and the assembly, but was vetoed by the Governor just a few weeks ago.

S8354 - “Health Insurance Premium Integrity Act” – A comprehensive insurance reform which tackled:
 

• Medical Loss Ratios: It requires that at least 80 cents of every premium dollar be used to pay for health care services.  The higher ratio is an important way of ensuring a greater amount of the premium dollar is returned in health care benefits as opposed to administrative overhead costs or profits for the price sensitive small group market. 
• Prior Approval and ‘Two Strikes”: Reinstate prior approval for insurers who "materially misrepresent" their medical loss ratios two consecutive years.  Prior approval would then take effect and be in place for up to three years.  The component is intended to penalize any insurer who deliberately play games and misrepresent their loss ratios to the insurance department.      
• Network Issues: The legislation prohibits health insurers from charging a patient higher nonparticipating rates for hospital services in a participating hospital, even when the physician performing the service may be out-of-network.  As long as a patient is being treated in a participating hospital, he must be charged the lower in-network rates for the hospital services he receives.   Similarly, if the physician is in-network but the hospital is out-of-network, the patient must be charged in-network rates.  
• Prompt Payment: The legislation reduces the required time from 45 days to 21 days that an insurer must pay claims to health care providers when the claim is submitted electronically. Claims that are submitted in written form would remain unchanged, at 45 days.  By reducing the time for electronic claims filing, the state is providing an incentive for providers to submit claims electronically, and offers the additional benefit of ensuring that local health care providers will receive their reimbursements in a more timely fashion.  
   
  This new bill was sponsored by Seward, passed the Senate in June, but did not pass the assembly.  

S4617 – This bill allows potential and existing firefighter volunteers and volunteer ambulance workers the opportunity to buy the same insurance coverage as their municipal counterparts, which is hoped will serve as a strong incentive for men and women to join – and, stay with – their local departments. There is no cost to the state as the volunteers use their own funds to purchase the coverage. Passed the Senate and the Assembly and signed by the governor into Law in July 2008.

S6385 - Repeals the 12-month, crowd-out provision that limits access to “Healthy-NY.” This bill, passed with broad, bi-partisan backing, was strongly supported by NFIB and others in the small business community because it provides an additional, more affordable health insurance option for small business owners and their employees struggling with rising health insurance costs.  This passed the senate and assembly, but vetoed by the Governor and tabled.

S6457 - Establishes a task force on retiree health insurance protection to prepare a report on cost-effective strategies for protecting adequate and affordable health insurance for retired public employees and their  dependents. This was vetoed by the Governor.

S5953 – The Upstate Now Program which, among other things, reduces health care costs on small business by allowing businesses to purchase Health New York at the unsubsidized cost; expand eligibility for Healthy-NY coverage; provide small business with tax credits for health insurance cost; and exempt Health Savings Accounts from state health insurance mandates. It passed the Senate, made it to the Assembly, but then was passed to the Ways and Means Committee in January 2008.

S0202 - The purpose of this bill is to encourage and facilitate the operation of health insurance purchasing
cooperatives. Purchasing cooperatives are a new mechanism that allows small businesses to select more than one health insurance carrier for its employees. This will allow employees of small businesses to have the same ability to select among different health plans as is the case with large employers. It has been referred to the insurance committee.

However, Seward did work to restore health care funding in the state budget, which included money to hospitals, nursing homes, and home care.

Experience

Now, we can’t ignore the fact that the commercial talks about Seward’s experience…which you’ve got to give to him. He has been a state senator for more than 20 years.  In 1999, Seward became chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Insurance. And in 2007, he was asked by Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno to assume a key post in the senate leadership team as majority whip.

For responses to Seward's commercial claims from Seward's opponent, Don Barber, check out the related content of this story.