Rhode Island Gov. Donald Carcieri (R) on Thursday signed into law a broad package of health care-related bills that includes legislation to lower health insurance premiums for small-business owners and their employees, the Providence Journal reports. The insurance premium legislation will create a new commission to develop a health insurance plan that will be exempt from state coverage mandates governing other Rhode Island plans. The commission hopes to craft a plan that combines lower premiums with basic coverage. Another piece of the legislative package creates a reinsurance fund that would subsidize health insurance premiums for firms whose average pay is below a certain amount. This subsidy is dependent upon creation of a financing source, which lawmakers have yet to address. The package also will ban sodas and sugary snacks from public and private elementary, middle and junior high schools; require health insurers to cover counseling and prescription drugs for individuals trying to quit smoking; and provide price information to health care consumers (Gudrais, Providence Journal, 7/7).