Court Blocks Parts of Restrictive Missouri Healthcare Navigator Law

An appeals court has ruled that Missouri can’t limit health insurance navigators’ ability to help people obtain insurance under President Barack Obama’s healthcare law.

The 8th Circuit Court in St. Louis blocked parts of a Missouri law that limit the information certified counselors could give people seeking health insurance. However, the court said the state can institute licensure requirements for navigators and counselors.

At issue was a 2013 Missouri law that set limitations on people helping others to sign up for health insurance. The court ruled the limitations conflict with federal rules.

“The court made clear that consumer assisters in Missouri are unrestricted by those provisions and they can help enroll people in health insurance,” said attorney Jay Angoff.

The court blocked a prohibition on navigators or certified application counselors giving advice on health plans or discussing health plans not listed on the federal healthcare.gov website. It also blocked a requirement for counselors to direct consumers who have had insurance through an agent or broker to talk to an insurance provider instead.

Those requirements would have limited the help community groups could provide to people trying to sign up for health insurance, Angoff said.

Dale Wrigley, the director of engagement and advocacy for the St. Louis Effort for AIDS, one of the parties in the lawsuit, said there were concerns that they would not even have been able to tell people eligible for Medicaid to apply for it because that might qualify as advice.

“There were questions of whether we would’ve been able to give that advice on whether doctors were included in a plan,” he said.