BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 388
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB
388 (Mitchell)
As Amended July 6, 2015
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE: 40-0
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|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Health |18-0 |Bonta, Maienschein, | |
| | |Bonilla, Burke, Chiu, | |
| | |Gomez, Gonzalez, | |
| | |Roger Hernández, | |
| | |Lackey, McCarty, | |
| | |Nazarian, Patterson, | |
| | |Ridley-Thomas, | |
| | |Rodriguez, Steinorth, | |
| | |Thurmond, Waldron, | |
| | |Wood | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Appropriations |17-0 |Gomez, Bigelow, | |
| | |Bloom, Bonta, | |
| | |Calderon, Chang, | |
| | |Nazarian, Eggman, | |
| | |Gallagher, Eduardo | |
SB 388
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| | |Garcia, Holden, | |
| | |Jones, Quirk, Rendon, | |
| | |Wagner, Weber, Wood | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY: Makes the uniform summary of benefits and coverage
(SBC) document, provided by health care service plans (plans)
and health insurers (insurers) to consumers, a vital document
subject to specified language translation requirements.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Makes, commencing October 1, 2016, the uniform SBC a vital
document for the purposes of language translation requirements
for plans and insurers.
2)Requires, not later than July 1, 2016, the Department of
Managed Health Care (DMHC) and the California Department of
Insurance (CDI) to develop written translations of SBC
templates in all language groups identified by the Department
of Health Care Services as Medi-Cal threshold languages,
except for any language group for which the United States
Department of Labor (DOL) has already prepared a written
translation.
3)Requires DMHC and CDI, not later than July 1, 2016, to make
the written translations of the template uniform SBC available
on their websites, as well as any written translations
prepared by the DOL, if available.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, this bill would result in:
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1)Estimated one-time costs of $350,000 (Managed Care Fund) to
DMHC for translation, policy development, and technical
assistance to plans regarding issues related to using the
templates.
2)Similar one-time costs for similar activities at CDI, as well
as $60,000 ongoing to ensure compliance (Insurance Fund).
COMMENTS: According to the author, the Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires plans and insurers to provide
consumers with an easy to understand SBC to help them evaluate
and compare their health insurance options. The SBC includes
key features of coverage such as covered benefits, cost-sharing
provisions, and coverage limitations as well as a standard
glossary of terms. The author states that the ACA requires this
information to be provided in a culturally and linguistically
appropriate manner, but, unfortunately, federal standards on
translating the SBC are inconsistent with California's
translation requirements. The author states that this bill
makes clear that translation of the SBC must be consistent with
California's current language access laws, helping to ensure
that more Californians are informed about their health coverage
options and have equal access to critical information about
their health care.
The ACA sets forth specified disclosure requirements to help
consumers better understand their health coverage, as well as to
gain a better understanding of other coverage options and an
ability to compare plans. One such disclosure requirement is
for plans and insurers to provide SBCs, and a uniform glossary
of common terms used in health coverage and medical care, to
consumers so that they may obtain summarized information about
plan benefits and coverage, and evaluate and compare their
health coverage options.
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Under federal language access rules, plans and insurers must
translate the SBC and uniform glossary if 10% or more of the
population in a county is literate in the same non-English
language. Based on these rules, two languages in California
would meet the thresholds for written translations: Spanish and
Chinese.
California law requires vital documents to be translated when a
limited English proficiency (LEP) enrollee represents a certain
percentage of the plan's enrollment. Specifically, plans and
insurers must assess the linguistic needs of the enrollee or
insured population, and translate vital documents in threshold
languages based on the sizes of enrollment and the needs
assessment. According to DMHC, 10 languages qualify as meeting
language access thresholds under California's translation
requirements for vital documents. Those languages are Spanish,
Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, Tagalog, Russian, Armenian, Khmer,
Arabic, and Hmong.
This bill requires DMHC and CDI to develop and post templates of
the SBC translated into Medi-Cal threshold languages which in
addition to English include Arabic, Armenian, Cambodian,
Chinese, Farsi, Hmong, Korean, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, and
Vietnamese.
The California Pan-Ethnic Health Network, the sponsor of this
bill, and other supporters state that this bill will ensure LEP
consumers can access vital information included in the SBCs by
expanding the languages into which it will be translated; ensure
health plans are meeting their language access obligations;
improve access to language assistance services; and help ensure
Californians can access a standardized glossary of insurance
terms. Supporters state that the SBC forms are important tools
for consumers, and help them make sense of health care coverage,
and that consumers' new right to the SBC under the ACA means
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they finally have a uniform document that can be used to
reliably compare plans and policies, and obtain important
coverage information.
There is no known opposition to this bill.
Analysis Prepared by:
Kelly Green / HEALTH / (916) 319-2097 FN:
0001664