After approving similar proposals in each of the past three years, the House is poised to again take up a “direct primary care” bill during the 2018 legislative session.
House Insurance & Banking Chairman Danny Burgess, R-Zephyrhills, filed a bill (HB 37) this week that seeks to help clear the way for direct-primary care agreements between patients and doctors. Backed by small-business and physician groups, such agreements involve patients making regular payments to doctors to cover routine care, cutting out the role of insurers.
Burgess' new bill, like previous versions, would make clear the agreements are not insurance and are not subject to regulation under insurance laws. While the House passed such bills in 2015, 2016 and 2017, the issue stalled in the Senate.
Earlier this month, Sen. Tom Lee, R-Thonotosassa, filed a bill (SB 80) for the 2018 session that is similar to the Burgess measure.