January 20, 2012 

As one of the early, official acts of their 2012 session, Nebraska lawmakers overwhelmingly passed Legislative Resolution 362, recognizing Jan. 5 of this year as the celebration of the 75^th anniversary of the Unicameral Legislature.

It was on that date in 1937, that U.S. Senator George Norris missed the opening of Congress in order to address the first members of the first Unicameral. Norris’s speech emphasized the opportunity those legislators had to expand the horizons of representative government through the innovative device of a unicameral. It was a concept he championed—the "Nebraska Experiment"—believing that a one-house system would curb abuse of conference committees and promote transparency in government proceedings. His concept also included election of the legislators on a nonpartisan ballot.

Nebraska voters had approved the idea at the General Election in 1934. Thereby, Nebraska became the first and only state with a one-house legislature. That’s still fact.

Norris represented Nebraska for five terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, from 1903 through 1912, and then for five terms in the U.S. Senate, from 1913 through 1942. Three of his famous undertakings were sponsorship of legislation creating the Tennessee Valley Authority (1933), which enabled dam construction on the Tennessee River to control flooding and general low-cost electricity; legislation creating the Rural Electrification Act, which brought electricity to rural areas throughout the country and ensured public ownership of the power generation and delivery system; and the Norris-La Guardia Act, which was a boon to working men and women throughout the nation.

Norris died in McCook in 1944. A law enacted in 1981 already designates Jan. 5 of each year as George W. Norris Day. In addition, in 1984, the Legislature’s chamber at the State Capitol was named in his honor.

The fate of federal health care reform legislation, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, is "up in the air" to say the least. It’s the law, but it’s under significant legal challenges. The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear and decide at least some of the constitutional issues. The Act might survive. It might fail in part. It might collapse in total. It could be that. Justice Anthony Kennedy controls the fate, as he once again appears to be the swing vote on a major issue. Stay tuned.

Parts of the Act are already operative. One such part is the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP). Available since July 2010, it provides a health care coverage option for children and adults throughout the country who otherwise are denied coverage due to a pre-existing condition. Currently in most states, private health insurance companies can refuse to insure an individual for that reason.

Nebraska is one of 23 states in which the plan is federally operated.

In order to be eligible to enroll in the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan, an individual has to be a citizen or national of the U.S. or reside here legally. He or she has to have been without health care coverage for at least the last six months. And he or she must have a pre-existing condition or have been denied coverage because of a health condition. The latter two criteria are state-law determinations.

Applicants who are approved as eligible can choose from three plan options, with different levels of premiums, calendar-year deductibles, prescription deductibles and prescription co-pays. One option is a Health Savings Account. Each option covers preventive care at 100 percent, with no deductibles.

PCIP covers a range of health benefits, including primary and specialty care, hospital care, and prescription drugs. There are no waiting periods for coverage to kick in after its effective date, even if it’s to treat a pre-existing condition. There is no lifetime maximum or cap on the amount of covered health care. There is provider choice.

For PCIP/Nebraska, premiums range from $132 per month to $568 depending upon the age of the insured and the coverage option selected. For example, the potential premium for a 50-year-old under the standard plan is $303. The maximum a Nebraska participant can pay out-of-pocket for covered services in a calendar year is $5,950 in network and $7,000 out-of-network. Nebraska’s provider network includes more than 6,700 physicians, 460 pharmacies and 73 hospitals throughout the state.

The current PCIP program is considered transitional; to last until 2014. Then, if what is scheduled to happen survives the legal storm, insurers will no longer be allowed to deny coverage to individuals with any pre-existing condition.

More information about the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan is available at www.pcip.gov. Click on "Find Your State" to learn how it works in Nebraska.

And finally… Nebraska’s 49 legislators are paid a salary of $12,000 a year. That’s been the salary since 1988. It’s in the state constitution. It’s unreasonably low. On the second day of this session, Senator Scott Lautenbaugh from Omaha introduced a legislative resolution (LR373CA) proposing to place before the voters in November an amendment to the Nebraska Constitution that would boost the salary to $32,000 per year. There might be enough support to move something less than that to the ballot.