Federal judge blocks Missouri navigator law

(Bloomberg) — A Missouri law requiring licenses for counselors who help consumers find health insurance on the new public health insurance exchanges was temporarily blocked by a U.S. judge.

U.S. District Judge Ortrie Smith in Jefferson City, Missouri, said the state, which declined to establish its own exchange, was barred from interfering with a program set up under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Missouri is among at least a dozen Republican-led states that imposed restrictions on insurance exchange counselors, known as navigators, including licensing tests, fines as high as $1,000 and training that almost doubles the hours required by the government. The ruling was the first of its kind in a navigator case and calls into question the constitutionality of similar laws elsewhere, said Jay Angoff, an attorney with Washington-based Mehri & Skalet PLLC, which represented the Missouri groups.

“Missouri’s attempts to obstruct the Affordable Care Act with unnecessary and burdensome navigator requirements are simply preempted by federal law,” wrote Jane Perkins, an attorney for nonprofit groups that sued the state, in a statement. “On this the court is clear: federally funded navigators must be able to exercise the duties they are funded to do under federal law.”

Republicans have said the measures are aimed at protecting consumers, given the personal information they must handle in this role. Obamacare supporters have said the measures are designed to undermine efforts to sign up the uninsured.

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