News Journal, January 31, 2008

State Insurance Commissioner Matt Denn didn’t come to the Joint Finance Committee with hat in hand Wednesday — but he did put in a plug for one of his pet projects, just in case.

For the past three years, the state Insurance Department has operated solely on revenue from its regulatory activities: taxes on insurers, licenses and similar fees.

So Denn didn’t ask for any money from the state’s general fund for the coming fiscal year, pointing instead to the fact that his department actually generates revenue for the state.

However, formation of a statewide health insurance pool that would provide affordable coverage to the uninsured and underinsured is one of Denn’s priorities.

Thus far, the General Assembly has not cooperated. That is likely to be the case again this year, with an uncertain economy.

But Denn pitched his idea anyway.

“While a period of economic downturn may not be the easiest time for you to consider spending money on a new program, it is exactly the time when the need for more affordable health coverage will become greater,” said Denn, a Democrat who is running for lieutenant governor.

“I urge you to consider funding the health insurance pool should revenues improve,” he said.

Senate Bill 6, which would set up such a pool, passed the Senate in April but has been stuck in a House committee since then.

News Journal, January 26, 2008

The state’s insurance commissioner says he won’t give up this year on several reforms that have been rebuffed by the Legislature, and will expand his agenda to include a few new causes.

Outgoing Insurance Commissioner Matt Denn, who is in a Democratic primary race for lieutenant governor, said Friday his goals are within reach, despite steady opposition from the insurance industry.

Public pressure on lawmakers will be the key, Denn believes — just as an outspoken constituency is partly responsible for his priorities.

“A substantial number of bills that are on the agenda this year were generated by people doing exactly that,” he said.

Several initiatives have been introduced in past sessions, though each failed to gain consideration by the full House after Senate approval:

• Senate Bill 6, creating a statewide health insurance purchasing pool for individuals and families at or below state median income, and for businesses with 30 percent or more of their employees below median income.
• Senate Bill 37, allowing the Department of Insurance to regulate health insurance rates. Denn wants the law to give his office the same level of regulatory power that it holds over workers’ compensation and auto insurance rates.
• Senate Bill 58, allowing the Insurance Department to regulate medical discount plans. Denn wants to target a type of costly insurance that is marketed toward low-income and uninsured customers.

Three other bills have been introduced and are under consideration:

• House Bill 267, allowing disabled Delawareans to purchase Medicare Supplement insurance. This would require companies to include the disabled in a type of assistance now offered to the elderly. Primarily, it would benefit dialysis patients.
• House Bill 286, to use free and reduced-price school lunch information to target families whose kids might be eligible for health coverage under the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.
• Senate Bill 191, barring insurance companies from canceling homeowners policies because of reasonable claims. A court recently ruled that this was not an issue Denn’s office may regulate, but this bill would restore that power.

Two new issues await introduction in March:

• Legislation barring auto insurance companies from canceling policies of volunteer fire company members simply because they are volunteers. “This actually was brought about because that actually happened to one of them,” Denn said. “We had no idea that that was actually happening.”
• Legislation allowing retired doctors to work for the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Elsmere, where there are no orthopedic surgeons, without losing malpractice insurance. Patients requiring certain procedures must go out of state because local doctors risk exposure to past malpractice cases, Denn said.

Rep. Donna D. Stone, R-Dover South, chairwoman of the committee that has prevented several Denn-backed bills from reaching the House floor, could not be reached for comment on Friday. Neither could the lobbyist for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Delaware.

Delaware State News, January 23, 2008

DOVER — State Treasurer Jack A. Markell and Insurance Commissioner Matthew P. Denn shattered state fundraising records and begin the election year with huge monetary advantages over their Democratic opponents for governor and lieutenant governor…

…In the Democratic race for lieutenant governor, Insurance Commissioner Mr. Denn said he is in excellent shape after concluding a record- setting year, raising $199,569 and having $377,419 on hand the most in a pre-election year for the office.

The previous record was Lt. Gov. Carney’s $117,655 he had at the end of 2003 going into re-election.

“In a statewide election, if you want people to hear your message, you have to be able to deliver that message, and that requires money,” Mr. Denn said.

“Raising this money now lets me spend more time talking to voters over the next nine months and less raising money.”

By contrast, his Democratic opponent, Wilmington City Council President Theodore Blunt, raised $68,233 and had $70,888 on hand going into this year, forcing him to have to kick his fundraising efforts into high gear.

“I spent all (2007) getting to know the people in Kent and Sussex counties,” Mr. Blunt said. “I’m pretty well-known in New Castle County from my 36 years as an educator and 24-year political career.

“Money doesn’t vote, people vote. But money is important … We’ll kick up our fundraising efforts to make sure we can be competitive.”

Mr. Denn said he estimates it will cost about $400,000 to run a successful primary campaign.

The primary is Sept. 9.

News Journal, January 23, 2008

…Meanwhile, Insurance Commissioner Matt Denn has taken a commanding lead over Wilmington City Council President Ted Blunt in the fundraising race for the Democratic lieutenant governor’s race.

Denn reports donations of just over $200,000 from 518 donors in 2007, with a balance of $377,419.32 entering 2008.

Denn’s cash-on-hand is more than triple the sum Carney had in 2003, when he was running for a second term.

“That means I can spend more time out there talking to people than I would have been able to otherwise,” Denn said.

Blunt reported $75,000 in hand at the end of 2007.

“My first year was focusing on getting out and meeting people up and down the state, primarily in Kent and Sussex counties,” Blunt said. “Now we’re moving into a higher gear as it relates to fundraising.”

News Journal Editorial, January 11, 2008

One of the things we know about the State Children’s Health Insurance Program is that it works.

Study after study in the 10 years of SCHIP’s existence has shown the program keeps children healthier. But study after study has also shown the program is not reaching all of the children it is meant to serve.

Delaware can do something about that.

For much of last year the joint federal-state program was the center of a budgetary tug of war between Congress and President Bush. The issue hasn’t been settled, but the program has been extended in the meantime. The argument is over the range of the benefits, not the actual program.

SCHIP enables children of the working poor to get medical coverage. That helps keep kids healthy and alert in school. That’s good for everyone involved, including taxpayers.

Delaware Insurance Commissioner Matt Denn has rightly pushed for authority to use school information to reach children who are eligible but not yet covered by SCHIP. This makes sense. A bill introduced Wednesday should get the General Assembly’s thoughtful attention.

Delaware was forced to return about $3 million in federal aid because not enough eligible children were enrolled. Not only was the aid not used, but eligible children either went uncovered or had to use more expensive emergency room facilities to get routine medical care. That’s an even bigger waste of resources.

This health bill is a good step toward getting all of Delaware’s children the care they need.

Kaiser Daily Health Report, January 11, 2008

Delaware: State lawmakers on Wednesday introduced bipartisan legislation that would use information from schools to identify children who are eligible for SCHIP, the Wilmington News Journal reports. The state last year returned about $3 million of the $10 million in federal funding it received for SCHIP because not enough children were enrolled in the program. State Insurance Commissioner Matt Denn said that the money could have provided coverage to 1,000 additional children. There were about 4,800 children enrolled in the program as of December 2007. The University of Delaware Center for Applied Demography & Survey Research estimates that about 8,840 uninsured children in the state might qualify for SCHIP.

Under the legislation, school districts would provide the state Department of Health and Social Services with the names of students enrolled in no-cost and reduce-price lunch programs, and the department would then send information to the students’ parents

Delaware State News, January 10, 2008

DOVER — A bipartisan group of legislators and Insurance Commissioner Matthew P. Denn unveiled a proposal Wednesday to get data from schools on children who take part in free and reduced price lunch programs and use it to find kids who are eli¬gible for health coverage from the state but not enrolled.

The proposal would allow Delaware to take advantage of federal rules providing for transfer of information from school districts to the Department of Health and Social Services.

About 5,000 children in Delaware are enrolled in the state’s version of the Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, but another 8,000 kids in Delaware are estimated to be eligible for CHIP but are not enrolled.

As a result, Delaware returns about $3 million of its annual federal allotment for the program.

“We send back to the federal government enough money to enroll another 1,000 kids,” Mr. Denn said.

Rep. Teresa L. Schooley, D-Newark, executive director of Kids Count in Delaware, said the percentage of uninsured children in the state rose .8 percent to 11.9 percent last year.

“There’s no silver bullet here,” Rep. Schooley said. “We have to look at several different solutions, such as this one.”

News Journal, January 10, 2008

A bill introduced Wednesday in the General Assembly would use information from schools to identify students who are eligible for low-cost health insurance.

The State Children’s Health Insurance Program, known as SCHIP, provides coverage for millions of children who can’t get it or afford it through their parents’ job-based insurance and whose families make too much to qualify for Medicaid.

Last year, Delaware had to return about $3 million of the $10 million it received in federal aid because there weren’t enough young people signed up — SCHIP covers children and adolescents up to age 19.

That leftover money could have covered another 1,000 children, said state Insurance Commissioner Matt Denn. As of December, there were 4,802 youngsters enrolled in SCHIP. According to the University of Delaware’s Center for Applied Demography & Survey Research, there are about 8,840 uninsured children under age 18 who could potentially qualify for the program.

“Delaware has never set up an organized program to take advantage of these [opportunities],” Denn said.

The bipartisan bill calls for school districts to give the names of students enrolled in free and reduced-price lunch programs to the Department of Health and Social Services, which will send program information to their parents.

Denn announced last July the Department of Insurance would assist by distributing information about the program. His office is also planning to give continuing education vouchers to school nurses who sign children up for SCHIP.

“It doesn’t take a lot of time to find out which children are eligible for it,” said Cheryl Layfield, a nurse at Selbyville Middle School. “A lot of times when you call the parent they’ll tell you that they don’t have insurance.”

Children without insurance are considerably less likely than insured children to see a doctor, according to the National Survey of Children. They’re also less likely to receive preventive care.

Melissa Taylor, who has two daughters on SCHIP, said the program gives her peace of mind.

“If they need to go to a doctor, they can go,” said Taylor, a waitress at the Waffle House in Smyrna. “One of the most important things that I was told was to get my children health insurance.”

In the past, schools sent home information with students to alert their parents about SCHIP. While that helped, the procedure did not strongly boost enrollment, said Nancy Wilson, deputy secretary of education for the state.

“You need to focus on outreach with populations that may have literacy problems, and that need some special assistance,” she said. “That’s why we’re focusing on school nurses becoming involved.”

Other states have tried similar programs, said Jocelyn Guyer of the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University. Those states also have worked with hospitals and community health centers to find eligible kids.

Families must pay a premium, ranging from $10 to $25 per month. In Delaware, families with incomes of up to 200 percent of the federal poverty line — about $41,300 for a family of four — are eligible. Still, many families fail to re-enroll for SCHIP each year.

“There’s a lot of intensive paperwork that’s involved,” Guyer said.

Most states, Guyer said, use up all their federal aid. A lack of organized effort has contributed to the First State lagging in this area, Denn said.

“If you go home tonight and turn on your TV, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll see something for the program in Pennsylvania, and you’ll see a phone number,” he said. “We don’t do that in Delaware. Other states seem to have been doing something that Delaware hasn’t been doing.”

Associated Press, January 10, 2008

Delaware Insurance Commissioner Matt Denn and state lawmakers from both parties have introduced legislation they say could help more children get health insurance.

To find eligible children, the bill would require that schools provide information identifying children enrolled in free or reduced lunch programs.

About 5,000 Delaware children are currently enrolled in the state’s version of the Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, but authorities believe another 8,000 eligible children are not enrolled.

The state returns about $3 million every year to the federal government because it does not use the full amount. Denn says the money could insure at least 1,000 more children.

News Journal Editorial, January 7, 2008

It’s irrelevant whether the state insurance commissioner had the authority to issue a regulation prohibiting insurers from canceling home policies once a claim is made. A Superior Court judge, siding with insurance companies who sued, ruled that Commissioner Matt Denn did overstep his authority in issuing the regulation. Mr. Denn is appealing to the state Supreme Court.

But the point is, insurance companies ought not have the power to cancel a customer’s policy simply because they made a claim. As Mr. Denn said, “People shouldn’t be punished for using their homeowners insurance for the very reason that they bought it.”

Some, but not all, insurance companies have canceled homeowner’s insurance policies after a second claim is submitted.

But an even more outrageous policy that some in the industry follow is canceling policies after a home owner simply asks questions about coverage without submitting a claim. That is also what Mr. Denn’s regulation was protecting the public from the past two years.

Besides the inconvenience and hassle of finding a new insurance company, policyholders who are canceled by one company often find themselves paying more when they switch to a new insurer.

The public should be outraged that insurance companies, and their lobbyists, have been spending customers’ annual premiums fighting Mr. Denn’s regulation in court.

In the meantime, the Legislature can fix this problem in a day. A bill to outlaw the practice passed the Senate unanimously in 2005 but was tabled by the House insurance committee. That’s when Mr. Denn implemented his regulation.

The General Assembly comes back into session next week and Sen. Dave Sokola, D-Newark, will file a new bill that’s likely to again pass unanimously. So call your state representative in the House and tell them to vote yes on stopping the insurance industry from canceling policies because you have a question or submit a claim.