Kansas lawmakers mull new tax on exchange health policies

? A Kansas Senate committee has reviewed a proposal to impose a new fee on insurance policies sold through an online marketplace set up under the federal health care overhaul.

But The Topeka Capital Journal reports that representatives of insurance companies and the Kansas Chamber of Commerce provided testimony against the bill to the Ways and Means Committee.

The measure would set a fee equal to 3.5 percent of each policy’s premium to raise about $20 million annually.

Republican Sen. Mary Pilcher-Cook of Shawnee said the measure would help the state recoup extra costs arising from the 2010 federal health care law.

The bill’s opponents said the bill would raise costs on other policies because federal law requires the same prices for similar policies sold off the exchange.