Florida Association of Health Underwriters
Thank you for taking a moment to review the following brief statement of views prepared by the Florida Association of Health Underwriters. Should you wish to discuss these views further please contact Rhett O’Doski or our State Legislative Chair, Michelle Urso or our Co-Chair, Joan Galletta.
The Florida Association of Health Underwriters (www.fahu.org) is the state chapter of the National Association of Health Underwriters (www.nahu.org ). Our professional organization has chapters in every state and over 20,000 members. Our membership is comprised of insurance agents, financial advisors, carrier representatives and other insurance industry professionals. Our mission is to protect the consumers’ future. To accomplish our mission, we seek to strengthen the insurance marketplace by advocating for effective legislation, ethical leadership and professional standards, and by educating our members and the consumers they serve.
The escalating cost of health care is the core problem, as it relates to health insurance premiums. We support market-based solutions to secure access to affordable health insurance for all Floridians. With a larger segment of the population paying premiums, we all share in the cost of maintaining the greatest health care system in the world. We need to seek creative free market solutions to encourage the purchase of health insurance and to improve its affordability. We encourage review of legislative impediments to diversity in plan design and a good place to start would be to review the state mandated coverages.
We support a study of existing mandates and their impact on premiums. We must understand of the impact on premium of each existing mandate, and the impact on premiums of any newly proposed mandate before it is passed.
We support funding for a high-risk pool so that those who wish to purchase insurance, but have no venue in which to do so (because of pre-existing conditions that make them ineligible and because they have no access to an employer group plan) can get the coverage they need.
We adamantly oppose any lessening of educational requirements for insurance licensure, whether it is for a license to sell health or life insurance. Insurance professionals’ advice to clients can have a dramatic affect on the financial stability of the client and his or her family. Floridians deserve to know they are working with someone who has been adequately educated.
We support efforts to improve consumer access to health care costs and performance- based outcomes. We must implement “transparency” in every facet of our health care system in order to enable people to make informed decisions and effectively engage in the consumer driven health care system to which we are shifting. This information is required for consumers to make informed decisions and can be made available without compromising the protections afforded personal health information of individuals.
Florida Association of Health Underwriters Contacts
FAHU Legislative & Regulatory Representative
Rhett O’Doski (rhett@roconsultinggroup.com)
ROC Group
510 East 6th Avenue
Tallahassee, FL 32303
(850) 322-8786
FAHU State Legislative Chair
Michelle Urso (murso@alltrustinsurance.com)
All Trust Insurance
2965 Alt. US Hwy. 19
Tarpon Springs, FL 34683
(727) 943-9101
(727) 647-3447 - cell
FAHU State Legislative Co-Chair
Joan Galletta (jgalletta@jpperry.com)
JP Perry Insurance
3342 Kori Road
Jacksonville, FL 32257
(904) 482-1671 office
(904) 614-0633 cell
FAHU President
Stephanie Denz (stephanie_denz@ajg.com)
Gallagher Benefit Services, Inc.
13500 Sutton Park Dr S
Bldg. 802
Jacksonville, FL 32224
(904) 821-4312
FAHU Office
Dave Sherrill, Executive Director (fahu@fahu.org)
PO Box 150358
Altamonte Springs, FL 32715-0358
(321) 244-0427
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