JEFFERSON CITY • State regulators have rushed to set up procedures to license the counselors who will help uninsured Missourians sign up for health insurance this fall.
Under emergency rules released today, the counselors – known as navigators -- must undergo training and pass an exam testing their knowledge of health insurance.
But in a key move, the state will accept federal training and passage of a federal exam as proof of insurance expertise.
The state license fee will be $25 for individuals and $50 for organizations. The licensing process will take effect Aug. 3.
Licenses are required for the navigators because of a new law passed by the Legislature last spring and signed by Gov. Jay Nixon this month.
Advocates for uninsured people had asked Nixon to veto the bill. They said it would impose costly, duplicate requirements on navigators.
One of those advocates, Lisa D’Souza, a health law policy fellow at St. Louis University, said today that she was still digesting the new rules. But she was pleased to see that the fees were "reasonable" and that the state would accept the federal exam.
“Those are two pieces of good news,” she said.
Congress set up the navigator program to guide consumers through the options when they begin using an online marketplace to buy private insurance policies, some with federal subsidies. The exchange is set to launch Oct. 1.
The navigators, who will work at nonprofits, health centers and other organizations, will be funded by federal grants, which are expected to be announced Aug. 15.
Another group of workers, called certified application counselors, will perform many of the same duties as navigators but will be privately funded. The Missouri Foundation for Health, for example, has taken applications for counselors; they apparently will need state licenses as well.
The navigator law does not apply to people and companies that already have licenses to sell health insurance in Missouri.
Insurance agents and brokers lobbied for navigator licensing, which they said was needed to protect consumers from unscrupulous counselors.
The application form released today requires applicants to disclose any criminal convictions, professional license disciplinary actions and civil lawsuit allegations of fraud. The Department of Insurance said applicants could be disqualified if their records would have disqualified them to be licensed to sell insurance.
