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Minutes for HB2213 - Committee on Insurance
Short Title
Adding a definition of "amount involved" for a fraudulent insurance act.
Minutes Content for Mon, Feb 25, 2019
Chairperson Vickrey opened the hearing for HB 2213.
Research Analyst Melissa Renick briefed the members on the bill. She said the bill amended provisions governing fraudulent insurance acts and associated criminal provisions to add clarifying definitions (K.S.A. 2018, Supp. 40-2,188) and repealed nearly identical provisions also addressing fraudulent insurance acts (K.S.A. 2018 Supp. 40-2,188a). The bill further created definitions and updated references in the criminal penalty provisions to specify "amount involved" as it related to the severity level of the crime.
Paul Brothers, Office of the Attorney General, testified in support of the bill. He said in July 2017, the Insurance Department began forwarding all cases of criminal insurance fraud to the Fraud and Abuse Litigation for potential criminal prosecution. He said currently the statute defined what a fraudulent insurance act was and criminalized committing a fraudulent insurance with the severity level of the crime varying on the amount involved but did not define the amount involved. The bill sought to provide a definition for "amount involved." The definition in the bill mirrored the definition currently used to define "aggregate amount of payments illegally claimed" in the Kansas Medicaid Fraud Control Act. Last, the bill repealed K.S.A. 40-2, 188a as the statute was nearly identical to K.S.A. 40-2,188, except for the means by which a fraudulent insurance act was presented to the insurance company (Attachment1).
The chairperson asked if the members had questions for the proponents. There were none. He asked if there were any opponents or neutral parties who wanted to testify on the bill. There were none. The chairperson closed the hearing for HB 2213.
Chairperson Vickrey asked if there was any discussion on the bill as this was the last day for the committee to meet before turnaround. There was none.
Representative Neighbor motioned to suspend the rule to allow the committee to work the bill the same day as the hearing. Representative Cox seconded; motion was carried.
Chairperson Vickrey opened the discussion on the bill. Representative Neighbors made a motion to amend the bill changing the Office of the Attorney General to the Insurance Department. Motion to amend the bill carried. Representative Neighbor moved to favorably pass the amended bill out of committee. Representative Rhiley seconded; motion carried.
