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States Target School Cell Phone Use At least four states have banned or severely restricted the use of smart phones in schools in the current legislative biennium. Florida became the first state to do...
Compounded Weight-Loss Drugs Creating Headaches for State Regulators With popular weight-loss drugs like Mounjaro, Ozempic and Wegovy in short supply, many doctors, pharmacies and other providers have...
In their seminal book on the American health care system, legendary investigative reporters Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele offered a disturbing metaphor for the illogical nature of medical pricing...
PA Lawmakers Pass Bill Regulating PBMs The Pennsylvania legislature passed a bill ( HB 1993 ) aimed at increasing oversight of pharmacy benefit managers. If signed by Gov. Josh Shapiro (D), the measure...
In a sign of the times, states have begun pursuing bills that require disclosure of the use of artificial intelligence. In March, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) signed SB 149 , making the state the first...
Florida lawmakers passed sweeping legislation aimed at ending the state’s years-long property insurance crisis. If signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), the bill (SB 2 c), which sailed through both chambers during the state’s second special session on insurance, will return state-created Citizens Property Insurance Corp. to the status of insurer of last resort by requiring Citizens’ policyholders to switch to another carrier if that carrier’s premiums aren’t over 20 percent higher than Citizens’.
It will also require Citizens policyholders to purchase flood insurance; do away with one-way attorney fees and assignment of benefits agreements, which insurers say have been major cost drivers; reduce the amount of time insurers have to pay or deny claims; give the Office of Insurance Regulation more authority to examine insurer practices; and create a taxpayer-funded $1 billion reinsurance program. (INSURANCE JOURNAL, TAMPA BAY TIMES, STATE NET)
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) signed legislation (SB 7658/AB 8869) protecting victims of hate crimes from unfair insurance practices. The law bars insurers from canceling a policy, raising a premium, or refusing to issue or renew a policy solely because an individual or organization filed one or more claims for a loss resulting from a hate crime. (INSURANCE JOURNAL, STATE NET)
-- Compiled by KOREY CLARK