Florida 2022 2022 Regular Session

Florida Senate Bill S1026 Analysis / Analysis

Filed 01/14/2022

                    The Florida Senate 
BILL ANALYSIS AND FISCAL IMPACT STATEMENT 
(This document is based on the provisions contained in the legislation as of the latest date listed below.) 
Prepared By: The Professional Staff of the Committee on Banking and Insurance  
 
BILL: SB 1026 
INTRODUCER:  Senator Cruz 
SUBJECT:  Living Organ Donors in Insurance Policies 
DATE: January 14, 2022 
 
 ANALYST STAFF DIRECTOR  REFERENCE  	ACTION 
1. Schrader Knudson BI Pre-meeting 
2.     HP  
3.     RC  
 
I. Summary: 
SB 1026 revises Florida’s Unfair Insurance Trade Practices law (part IX of ch. 626, F.S.) and 
several parts of Florida’s Insurance Rates and Contracts law (ch. 627, F.S.) to make unlawful the 
discrimination against living organ donors in insurance coverage. The insurance types 
specifically included in SB 1026 are: life insurance, including industrial life insurance
1
 and 
group life insurance;
2
 health insurance; group,
3
 blanket,
4
 and franchise health insurance;
5
 credit 
                                                
1
 Section 627.502, F.S. defines industrial life insurance as that form of life insurance written under policies under which 
premiums are payable monthly or more often, bearing the words “industrial policy” or “weekly premium policy” or words of 
similar import imprinted upon the policies as part of the descriptive matter, and issued by an insurer that, as to such industrial 
life insurance, is operating under a system of collecting a debit by its agent. 
2
 Group life insurance is a type of life insurance policy insuring the lives of more than one individual. Pursuant to s. 627.551, 
F.S., groups eligible for such coverage include employee, debtor, labor union, and trustee groups, among others. 
3
 Group life insurance is a type of health insurance policy insuring the health of more than one individual. Pursuant to s. 
627.551, F.S., groups eligible for such coverage include employee; labor union, association and small employer health 
alliance; debtor; and teacher and student groups, among others. 
4
 Blanket health insurance is a type of health insurance covering special groups as identified in 627.659, F.S. Generally, such 
coverage is more limited than group health insurance and covers a group of individuals engaged in a specific activity. 
5
 Section 627.663, F.S., defines franchise health insurance as a form of insurance issued to: 
 Two or more employees of any corporation, professional association, copartnership, or individual employer or of 
any governmental corporation, agency, or department; or 
 Ten or more individuals who are members of any trade association or labor union or any other association having 
had an active existence for at least 2 years and meeting certain other specified conditions. 
REVISED:   BILL: SB 1026   	Page 2 
 
life insurance and credit disability insurance;
 6
 long-term care insurance;
7
 health maintenance 
contracts
8
 provided by health maintenance organizations; and prepaid health clinic contracts.
9
 
 
The bill has an effective date of July 1, 2022. 
II. Present Situation: 
The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation 
The Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) licenses and regulates the activities of life, health, 
property, and casualty insurers, health maintenance organizations (HMOs), and other risk-
bearing entities. The OIR is an office within the Financial Services Commission (FSC). The FSC 
is composed of the Governor, the Attorney General, the Chief Financial Officer, and the 
Commissioner of Agriculture. The FSC members serve as the agency head for purposes of 
rulemaking under ss. 120.536-120.565, F.S.
10
 
 
Organ Donation 
Organ and tissue donation is the process of surgically removing an organ or tissue from one 
person (the donor) and transplanting it into another person (the recipient) to save the life of, or 
enhance the life of, the organ recipient. Transplantation is generally necessary because the 
recipient’s organ has failed or has been damaged by disease or injury. Transplantable organs 
include the kidneys, liver, heart, lungs, pancreas and intestine.
11 
Certain tissue is also 
transplantable and includes skin used as a temporary dressing for burns, serious abrasions and 
other exposed areas; heart valves used to replace defective valves; tendons used to repair torn 
ligaments on knees or other joints; veins used in cardiac bypass surgery; corneas used to restore 
                                                
6
 Section 627.677, F.S., defines “credit life insurance” as insurance on the life of a debtor pursuant to or in connection with a 
specific loan or other credit transaction and defines “credit disability insurance as: insurance under which a borrower of 
money or a purchaser or a lessee of goods is insured in connection with a specific loan or credit transaction against loss of 
time resulting from accident or sickness. 
7
 Section 627.9404, F.S., defines a “long-term care insurance policy” as an insurance policy or rider advertised, marketed, 
offered, or designed to provide coverage on an expense-incurred, indemnity, prepaid, or other basis for one or more necessary 
or medically necessary diagnostic, preventive, therapeutic, curing, treating, mitigating, rehabilitative, maintenance, or 
personal care services provided in a setting other than an acute care unit of a hospital. 
8
 Section 641.19, F.S., defines a “health maintenance contract” as contract entered into by a health maintenance organization 
(also commonly known as HMOs) with a subscriber or group of subscribers to provide coverage for comprehensive health 
care services in exchange for a prepaid per capita or prepaid aggregate fixed sum. A health maintenance organization 
generally will utilize or cover care from doctors who work for or under contract with the health maintenance organization. 
See Healthcare.gov, Health Maintenance Organization (HMO), https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/health-maintenance-
organization-hmo/ (last visited Jan. 13, 2021).  
9
 Section 641.402 defines a “prepaid health clinic contract” as a contract entered into by a prepaid health clinic with a 
subscriber or group of subscribers to provide any of the basic services in exchange for a prepaid per capita or prepaid 
aggregate fixed sum. The section also defines a prepaid health clinic as an organization which provides, either directly or 
through arrangements with other persons, basic services to persons enrolled with such organization, on a prepaid per capita or 
prepaid aggregate fixed-sum basis, including those basic services which subscribers might reasonably require to maintain 
good health. 
10
 Section 20.121(3), F.S. 
11
 Donate Life Florida, Frequently Asked Questions, available at https://www.donatelifeflorida.org/categories/donation/ (last visited Jan. 
13, 2022).  BILL: SB 1026   	Page 3 
 
sight; and bone used in orthopedic surgery to facilitate healing of fractures or prevent 
amputation.
12
 
 
A single person can save up to eight lives through organ donation, and dozens more lives may be 
improved through tissue donation. Nearly 120,000 children and adults are presently awaiting 
potentially life-saving organ transplants and every day 22 people die awaiting organ transplant.
13
 
While most organ and tissue donations occur after the donor has died, some organs and tissues 
can be donated while the donor is alive, such as a kidney or part of a liver or lung.
14 
There are 
approximately as many living donors every year as there are deceased donors and only about 
three in every 1,000 people actually become donors—despite 169 million in the United States 
being registered.
15 
According to United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), between 2017 and 
2021, there were an average of 6,539 living donor transplants per year in the United States.
16
 
 
Organ Donation, Procurement, and Transplant Process 
Established by the National Organ Transplant Act (NOTA) of 1984, the Organ Procurement and 
Transplantation Network (OPTN) is a public-private partnership that links all professionals 
involved in the nation’s donation and transplant system.
17
 The UNOS, a private, non-profit 
organization serves as the OPTN under contract with the U.S. Department of Health and Human 
Services.
18
 UNOS coordinates how donor organs are matched and allocated to patients on the 
waiting list.
19
 Non-profit, federally designated organ procurement organizations (OPOs) work 
closely with UNOS, hospitals, and transplant centers to facilitate the organ donation and 
transplantation process.
20 
 
Potential Financial Impacts Relating to Organ Donation 
The buying and selling of organs is unlawful under the National Organ Transplant Act of 1984.
21
 
However, certain organ donor expenses relating to transplant may be paid for by the recipient (or 
their insurer). Generally, an organ donor and their family are not charged for the medical care 
required to donate an organ.
22 
Costs related to living or deceased donation are paid by the 
recipient, usually through insurance.
23
 Typically, any cost that falls outside of the transplant 
center’s donor evaluation or actual surgery, such as travel, lodging, lost wages, and other non-
                                                
12
 Id. 
13
 Id. 
14
 U.S. Government Information on Organ Donation and Transplantation, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, How Organ 
Donation Works, available at https://organdonor.gov/about/process.html (last visited Jan. 13, 2022). 
15
 Id. 
16
 UNOS, Living Donation, https://unos.org/transplant/living-donation/ (Jan 13, 2022). 
17
 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network – About the OPTN, available at 
https://optn.transplant.hrsa.gov/governance/about-the-optn/ (last visited Jan. 13, 2022). 
18
 Id. and UNOS, Who we are, available at: https://unos.org/about/ (last visited Jan 13, 2022). 
19
 U.S. Government Information on Organ Donation and Transplantation, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, The Organ 
Transplant Process, available at https://organdonor.gov/about/process/transplant-process.html (last visited Jan. 13, 2022). 
20
 Donate Life Florida, Organ Procurement Organizations and Transplant Centers, available at https://www.donatelifeflorida.org/local-
resources/transplant-centers/ (last visited Jan 13, 2022). 
21
 National Organ Transplant Act, 42 U.S.C. s. 274. 
22
 Health Resources Services Administration, Organ Donation Frequently Asked Questions, available at 
https://www.organdonor.gov/learn/faq (last visited Jan. 13, 2022). 
23
 Id.  BILL: SB 1026   	Page 4 
 
medical expenses, is borne by the living donor or recipient.
24
 In addition, treatment for 
conditions discovered during the evaluation portion of the donation process and some post-
donation follow-up expenses are not covered. UNOS also warns potential donors that “living 
donation may have a negative impact on the ability to obtain, maintain, or afford health, 
disability and life insurance.”
25
 
 
Obtaining and Affording Insurance 
In 2014, the American Journal of Transplantation published a study of 1,046 donors who 
underwent living kidney donation at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Of these donors, 25 percent of 
those who reporting attempting to obtain new or revise life insurance policies post-procedure 
reported difficulty in doing so. The difficulties reported included outright denials in obtaining 
coverage, higher premiums, and the notation of a pre-existing condition relating to the kidney 
donation. The same survey also noted that of the surveyed donors who reported attempting to 
obtain new or revise health insurance policies post-procedure, 7 percent reported difficulties in 
doing so.
26
 
 
Another study, also published in the American Journal of Transplantation (in 2007), which 
reviewed 23 different studies over a 35-year period, concluded that a significant number of living 
kidney donors do encounter difficulties in obtaining or maintaining insurance (with anywhere 
between 3 to 11 percent of those surveyed reporting difficulties). That same study also found that 
insurability issues caused significant stress for between 11 and 13 percent of kidney donors and 
that “insurability may negatively influence one’s decision to become a living organ donor.”
27
 
This same study also found that these insurability issues are not isolated to kidney donors.
28
 The 
National Kidney Foundation also advises potential donors, in accessing the risk of donation, that 
“some donors have reported difficulty in getting, affording, or keeping disability or life 
insurance.” 
 
There is some evidence that these increased difficulties and costs in obtaining life insurance is 
not always based on the actual additional loss risk that organ donation presents. A 2015 study of 
living kidney donors found that such donation “does not appear to increase long-term mortality 
compared with controls;” however, the study did advise that it was limited in scope and more 
research was needed.
29
 A study of living kidney donors in Korea, published in 2019, found that, 
“the risk of all-cause mortality was comparable between live kidney donors and matched non-
donor healthy controls with similar health status.”
30
 A 2012 study of live liver donors found that 
while 90-day mortality rates were elevated for such donors, the rates of long-term mortality were 
essentially the same for live liver donors, for live kidney donors, and for healthy controls.
31
 
                                                
24
 UNOS, Living Donation Costs, available at https://transplantliving.org/financing-a-transplant/living-donation-costs/ (last visited Mar. 
23, 2021). 
25
 Id. 
26
 B.J. Boyarsky, et al, Experiences Obtaining Insurance After Live Kidney Donation, 14(9) AM J TRANSPLANT. 2168-72 
(2014).  
27
 R.C. Yang, et al, Insurability of Living Organ Donors: A Systematic Review, 7(6) AM J TRANSPLANT. 1547-48 (2007). 
28
 Id. and Nissing MH & Hayashi PH, Right hepatic lobe donation adversely affects donor life insurability up to one year 
after donation, 11 LIVER TRANSPL 843–847 (2005). 
29
 K.L. Lentine & A. Patel, Risks and outcomes of living donation, 19(4) ADV CHRONIC KIDNEY DIS. 220-8 (2012). 
30
 Y. Kim, et al, Long-term Mortality Risks Among Living Kidney Donors in Korea. 75(6) Am J Kidney Dis. 925 (2019). 
31
 A.D. Muzaale, et al, Estimates of early death, acute liver failure, and long-term mortality among live liver donors, 142(2) 
Gastroenterology 273-80 (2012).  BILL: SB 1026   	Page 5 
 
 
Affordable Care Act 
The federal Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and 
Affordable Care Act, was signed into law in 2010, with its major provisions coming into force in 
2014.
32
 Among its sweeping changes to the U.S. health insurance system are requirements for 
health insurers to make coverage available to all individuals and employers, without exclusions, 
for preexisting medical conditions and without basing premiums on any health-related factors. 
The ACA imposes many insurance requirements, including an individual mandate of coverage, 
required benefits, rating and underwriting standards, mandatory review of rate increases, 
reporting of medical loss ratios and payment of rebates, internal and external appeals of adverse 
benefit determinations, and other requirements.
33
 The ACA preempts any state law that prevents 
the application of a provision of ACA.
34 
 
 
Preexisting Condition Exclusions 
The ACA prohibits health insurance policies from excluding coverage for any preexisting 
condition.
35
 A health insurer that offers individual or group health insurance coverage may not 
impose any preexisting condition exclusion.
36 
Rules define the term, “preexisting condition 
exclusion” to include a denial of coverage.
37
 Individual (but not group) grandfathered health 
plans are exempt from this requirement.
38 
This requirement of the ACA preempts state laws that 
allow such insurers to utilize preexisting condition exclusions. 
III. Effect of Proposed Changes: 
Bill Provisions 
Section 1 creates s. 626.97075, F.S. within Florida’s Unfair Trade Practices law (part IX of ch. 
626). The section creates a definition of “policy” as a life insurance policy, including those for 
                                                
32
 PATIENT PROTECTION AND AFFORD ABLE CARE ACT, PL 111-148, March 23, 2010, 124 Stat 119. 
33 
Most of the insurance regulatory provisions in ACA amend Title XXVII of the Public Health Service Act (PHSA), 
(42 U.S.C. s. 300gg et seq.). 
34 
The ACA preempts any state law that prevents the application of a provision of the ACA. The ACA effectively allows 
states to adopt and enforce laws that provide greater consumer protections than the ACA, but any state law that does not meet 
the federal minimum standards will be preempted. ACA s. 1321(d). 
35 
ACA s. 1201; PHSA s. 2704 (42 U.S.C. 300gg-3). 
36 
45 CFR 144.108. 
37
 Preexisting condition exclusion means a limitation or exclusion of benefits (including a denial of coverage) based on the 
fact that the condition was present before the effective date of coverage (or if coverage is denied, the date of the denial) under 
a group health plan or group or individual health insurance coverage…whether or not any medical advice, diagnosis, care, or 
treatment was recommended or received before that day. A preexisting condition exclusion includes any limitation or 
exclusion of benefits (including a denial of coverage) applicable to an individual as a result of information relating to an 
individual’s health status before the individual’s effective date of coverage (or if coverage is denied, the date of the denial) 
under a group health plan, or group or individual health insurance coverage…such as a condition identified as a result of a 
pre-enrollment questionnaire or physical examination given to the individual, or review of medical records relating to the pre-
enrollment period. See 45 C.F.R. s. 144.013. 
38
 A grandfathered health plan can be an individual or group health insurance policy purchased on or before March 23, 2010. 
Such plans are not subject to the ACA prohibition on pre-existing conditions (except individual health plans) and other 
specified ACA requirements. A plan can lose its grandfathered status if it is significantly changed. See Healthcare.gov, 
Grandfathered Health Insurance Plans, available at https://www.healthcare.gov/health-care-law-protections/grandfathered-
plans (last viewed Jan. 13, 2022).  BILL: SB 1026   	Page 6 
 
industrial life insurance and group life insurance; a health insurance policy; a group, blanket, and 
franchise health insurance policy; a credit life insurance and credit disability insurance policy; 
long-term care insurance policy; health maintenance contracts provided by health maintenance 
organizations; and prepaid health clinic contracts. The section specifies that an insurer, health 
maintenance organization, or prepaid health clinic may not, in a policy, as defined by the section:  
 Decline or limit coverage of a person solely due to that person’s status as a living organ 
donor; 
 Preclude an insured person or subscriber from donating all, or part of, an organ as a 
condition to continuing to receive coverage under that person’s insurance policy; or 
 Otherwise discriminate in the offering, issuance, cancellation, coverage, premium, or any 
other condition of a person’s policy without any additional actuarial risk, and based 
solely on that person’s status as a living organ donor. 
 
This section also grants the Financial Services Commission the authority to adopt rules and 
enforce these prohibitions. 
 
Pursuant to s. 626.9521, F.S., which specifies penalties for violations of part IX of ch. 626, F.S., 
a violation of proposed s. 626.97075, F.S., would subject a person a fine of up to $5,000 for each 
nonwillful violation and up to $40,000 for each willful violation. Insurers violating the proposed 
section may be fined an aggregate amount of up to $20,000 for all nonwillful violations arising 
out of the same action or an aggregate amount of up to $200,000 for all willful violations arising 
out of the same action. These specified fines may be imposed in additional to any specified 
penalty elsewhere in law. 
 
Sections 2 through 8 create ss. 627.4795, 627.5215, 627.5585, 627.6443, 627.65624, 627.6813, 
and 627.94065, F.S.  These sections set out a number of prohibitions relating to life insurance 
policies; industrial life insurance policies; group life insurance policies; health insurance 
policies; group, blanket, or franchise health insurance policies; credit life and credit disability 
insurance policies; and long-term care insurance policies, respectively. Specifically, these 
prohibit insurers under such policies, notwithstanding other state law to the contrary, from: 
 Declining or limiting insurance coverage of a person solely due to that person’s status as 
a living organ donor; 
 Precluding an insured person from donating all, or part of, an organ as a condition to 
continuing to receive coverage under that person’s insurance policy; or 
 Otherwise discriminating in the offering, issuance, cancellation, coverage, premium, or 
any other condition of a person’s insurance without any additional actuarial risk, and 
based solely on that person’s status as a living organ donor. 
 
These sections also grant the Financial Services Commission the authority to adopt rules and 
enforce these prohibitions. 
 
Sections 9 and 10 create 641.31065, and 641.4275, F.S. These sections prohibit health 
maintenance contracts by health maintenance organizations and prepaid health clinic contracts 
by prepaid health clinics from: 
 Declining or limiting coverage of a person solely due to that person’s status as a living 
organ donor;  BILL: SB 1026   	Page 7 
 
 Precluding a subscriber from donating all, or part of, an organ as a condition to 
continuing to receive coverage under that person’s insurance policy; or 
 Otherwise discriminating in the offering, issuance, cancellation, coverage, premium, or 
any other condition of a person’s contract without any additional actuarial risk, and based 
solely on that person’s status as a living organ donor. 
 
These sections also grant the Financial Services Commission the authority to adopt rules and 
enforce these prohibitions. 
 
Section 11 provides an effective date of the bill of July 1, 2022. 
 
Impact of the Affordable Care Act 
As mentioned above, the ACA prohibits the denial of health insurance coverage, or the charging 
of higher premiums, due to pre-existing health conditions. Thus, unless there is a change to the 
ACA or other change to federal law impacting this prohibition, SB 1026 would not impact health 
coverage in Florida except for individual grandfathered health plans that are exempt from the 
preexisting condition requirements of the ACA. 
IV. Constitutional Issues: 
A. Municipality/County Mandates Restrictions: 
None. 
B. Public Records/Open Meetings Issues: 
None. 
C. Trust Funds Restrictions: 
None. 
D. State Tax or Fee Increases: 
None. 
E. Other Constitutional Issues: 
None. 
V. Fiscal Impact Statement: 
A. Tax/Fee Issues: 
None.  BILL: SB 1026   	Page 8 
 
B. Private Sector Impact: 
Passage of this bill should have minimal fiscal impact on insurers. As stated in the 
analysis, this bill would have no impact on most health insurance plans. Also, given the 
minimal to no impact on long term mortality for the living donation of organs the passage 
of this bill should have little impact on risk carried by other insurers. 
C. Government Sector Impact: 
None. 
VI. Technical Deficiencies: 
None. 
VII. Related Issues: 
None. 
VIII. Statutes Affected: 
This bill creates the following sections of the Florida Statutes: 626.97075, 627.4795, 627.5215, 
627.5585, 627.6443, 627.65624, 627.6813, 627.94065, 641.31065, and 641.4275.   
   
IX. Additional Information: 
A. Committee Substitute – Statement of Changes: 
(Summarizing differences between the Committee Substitute and the prior version of the bill.) 
None. 
B. Amendments: 
None. 
This Senate Bill Analysis does not reflect the intent or official position of the bill’s introducer or the Florida Senate.