Bill Text: VA SB1344 | 2019 | Regular Session | Prefiled
Bill Title: Health insurance; essential health benefits, preventive services.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-01-31 - Failed to report (defeated) in Commerce and Labor (4-Y 11-N) [SB1344 Detail]
Download: Virginia-2019-SB1344-Prefiled.html
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §§38.2-3438, 38.2-3442, and 38.2-3451 of the Code of Virginia are amended and reenacted as follows:
§38.2-3438. Definitions.
As used this article, unless the context requires a different meaning:
"Child" means a son, daughter, stepchild, adopted child, including a child placed for adoption, foster child or any other child eligible for coverage under the health benefit plan.
"Covered benefits" or "benefits" means those health care services to which an individual is entitled under the terms of a health benefit plan.
"Covered person" means a policyholder, subscriber, enrollee, participant, or other individual covered by a health benefit plan.
"Dependent" means the spouse or child of an eligible employee, subject to the applicable terms of the policy, contract, or plan covering the eligible employee.
"Emergency medical condition" means a medical condition manifesting itself by acute symptoms of sufficient severity, including severe pain, so that a prudent layperson, who possesses an average knowledge of health and medicine, could reasonably expect the absence of immediate medical attention to result in (i) serious jeopardy to the mental or physical health of the individual, (ii) danger of serious impairment to bodily functions, (iii) serious dysfunction of any bodily organ or part, or (iv) in the case of a pregnant woman, serious jeopardy to the health of the fetus.
"Emergency services" means with respect to an emergency medical condition: (i) a medical screening examination as required under §1867 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. §1395dd) that is within the capability of the emergency department of a hospital, including ancillary services routinely available to the emergency department to evaluate such emergency medical condition and (ii) such further medical examination and treatment, to the extent they are within the capabilities of the staff and facilities available at the hospital, as are required under §1867 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. §1395dd (e)(3)) to stabilize the patient.
"ERISA" means the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974.
"Essential health benefits" include the following general categories and the items and services covered within the categories in accordance with regulations issued pursuant to the PPACA as of January 1, 2019: (i) ambulatory patient services; (ii) emergency services; (iii) hospitalization; (iv) laboratory services; (v) maternity and newborn care; (vi) mental health and substance abuse disorder services, including behavioral health treatment; (vii) pediatric services, including oral and vision care; (viii) prescription drugs; (ix) preventive and wellness services and chronic disease management; and (x) rehabilitative and habilitative services and devices.
"Facility" means an institution providing health care related services or a health care setting, including but not limited to hospitals and other licensed inpatient centers; ambulatory surgical or treatment centers; skilled nursing centers; residential treatment centers; diagnostic, laboratory, and imaging centers; and rehabilitation and other therapeutic health settings.
"Genetic information" means, with respect to an individual, information about: (i) the individual's genetic tests; (ii) the genetic tests of the individual's family members; (iii) the manifestation of a disease or disorder in family members of the individual; or (iv) any request for, or receipt of, genetic services, or participation in clinical research that includes genetic services, by the individual or any family member of the individual. "Genetic information" does not include information about the sex or age of any individual. As used in this definition, "family member" includes a first-degree, second-degree, third-degree, or fourth-degree relative of a covered person.
"Genetic services" means (i) a genetic test; (ii) genetic counseling, including obtaining, interpreting, or assessing genetic information; or (iii) genetic education.
"Genetic test" means an analysis of human DNA, RNA, chromosomes, proteins, or metabolites, if the analysis detects genotypes, mutations, or chromosomal changes. "Genetic test" does not include an analysis of proteins or metabolites that is directly related to a manifested disease, disorder, or pathological condition.
"Grandfathered plan" means coverage provided by a health carrier to (i) a small employer on March 23, 2010, or (ii) an individual that was enrolled on March 23, 2010, including any extension of coverage to an individual who becomes a dependent of a grandfathered enrollee after March 23, 2010, for as long as such plan maintains that status in accordance with federal law.
"Group health insurance coverage" means health insurance coverage offered in connection with a group health benefit plan.
"Group health plan" means an employee welfare benefit plan as defined in §3(1) of ERISA to the extent that the plan provides medical care within the meaning of §733(a) of ERISA to employees, including both current and former employees, or their dependents as defined under the terms of the plan directly or through insurance, reimbursement, or otherwise.
"Health benefit plan" means a policy, contract, certificate, or agreement offered by a health carrier to provide, deliver, arrange for, pay for, or reimburse any of the costs of health care services. "Health benefit plan" includes short-term and catastrophic health insurance policies, and a policy that pays on a cost-incurred basis, except as otherwise specifically exempted in this definition. "Health benefit plan" does not include the "excepted benefits" as defined in §38.2-3431.
"Health care professional" means a physician or other health care practitioner licensed, accredited, or certified to perform specified health care services consistent with state law.
"Health care provider" or "provider" means a health care professional or facility.
"Health care services" means services for the diagnosis, prevention, treatment, cure, or relief of a health condition, illness, injury, or disease.
"Health carrier" means an entity subject to the insurance laws and regulations of the Commonwealth and subject to the jurisdiction of the Commission that contracts or offers to contract to provide, deliver, arrange for, pay for, or reimburse any of the costs of health care services, including an insurer licensed to sell accident and sickness insurance, a health maintenance organization, a health services plan, or any other entity providing a plan of health insurance, health benefits, or health care services.
"Health maintenance organization" means a person licensed pursuant to Chapter 43 (§38.2-4300 et seq.).
"Health status-related factor" means any of the following factors: health status; medical condition, including physical and mental illnesses; claims experience; receipt of health care services; medical history; genetic information; evidence of insurability, including conditions arising out of acts of domestic violence; disability; or any other health status-related factor as determined by federal regulation.
"Individual health insurance coverage" means health insurance coverage offered to individuals in the individual market, which includes a health benefit plan provided to individuals through a trust arrangement, association, or other discretionary group that is not an employer plan, but does not include coverage defined as "excepted benefits" in §38.2-3431 or short-term limited duration insurance. Student health insurance coverage shall be considered a type of individual health insurance coverage.
"Individual market" means the market for health insurance coverage offered to individuals other than in connection with a group health plan.
"Managed care plan" means a health benefit plan that either requires a covered person to use, or creates incentives, including financial incentives, for a covered person to use health care providers managed, owned, under contract with, or employed by the health carrier.
"Network" means the group of participating providers providing services to a managed care plan.
"Open enrollment" means, with respect to individual health insurance coverage, the period of time during which any individual has the opportunity to apply for coverage under a health benefit plan offered by a health carrier and must be accepted for coverage under the plan without regard to a preexisting condition exclusion.
"Participating health care professional" means a health care professional who, under contract with the health carrier or with its contractor or subcontractor, has agreed to provide health care services to covered persons with an expectation of receiving payments, other than coinsurance, copayments, or deductibles, directly or indirectly from the health carrier.
"PPACA" means the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (P.L. 111-148), as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (P.L. 111-152), and as it may be further amended.
"Preexisting condition exclusion" means a limitation or exclusion of benefits, including a denial of coverage, based on the fact that the condition was present before the effective date of coverage, or if the coverage is denied, the date of denial, whether or not any medical advice, diagnosis, care, or treatment was recommended or received before the effective date of coverage. "Preexisting condition exclusion" also includes a condition identified as a result of a pre-enrollment questionnaire or physical examination given to an individual, or review of medical records relating to the pre-enrollment period.
"Premium" means all moneys paid by an employer, eligible employee, or covered person as a condition of coverage from a health carrier, including fees and other contributions associated with the health benefit plan.
"Preventive services" means (i) evidence-based items or services for which a rating of A or B is in effect in the recommendations of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force with respect to the individual involved; (ii) immunizations for routine use in children, adolescents, and adults for which a recommendation of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is in effect with respect to the individual involved; (iii) evidence-informed preventive care and screenings provided for in comprehensive guidelines supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration with respect to infants, children, and adolescents; and (iv) evidence-informed preventive care and screenings recommended in comprehensive guidelines supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration with respect to women. For purposes of this definition, a recommendation of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is considered in effect after it has been adopted by the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and a recommendation is considered to be for routine use if it is listed on the Immunization Schedules of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"Primary care health care professional" means a health care professional designated by a covered person to supervise, coordinate, or provide initial care or continuing care to the covered person and who may be required by the health carrier to initiate a referral for specialty care and maintain supervision of health care services rendered to the covered person.
"Rescission" means a cancellation or discontinuance of coverage under a health benefit plan that has a retroactive effect. "Rescission" does not include:
1. A cancellation or discontinuance of coverage under a health benefit plan if the cancellation or discontinuance of coverage has only a prospective effect, or the cancellation or discontinuance of coverage is effective retroactively to the extent it is attributable to a failure to timely pay required premiums or contributions towards the cost of coverage; or
2. A cancellation or discontinuance of coverage when the health benefit plan covers active employees and, if applicable, dependents and those covered under continuation coverage provisions, if the employee pays no premiums for coverage after termination of employment and the cancellation or discontinuance of coverage is effective retroactively back to the date of termination of employment due to a delay in administrative recordkeeping.
"Stabilize" means with respect to an emergency medical condition, to provide such medical treatment as may be necessary to assure, within reasonable medical probability, that no material deterioration of the condition is likely to result from or occur during the transfer of the individual from a facility, or, with respect to a pregnant woman, that the woman has delivered, including the placenta.
"Student health insurance coverage" means a type of individual health insurance coverage that is provided pursuant to a written agreement between an institution of higher education, as defined by the Higher Education Act of 1965, and a health carrier and provided to students enrolled in that institution of higher education and their dependents, and that does not make health insurance coverage available other than in connection with enrollment as a student, or as a dependent of a student, in the institution of higher education, and does not condition eligibility for health insurance coverage on any health status-related factor related to a student or a dependent of the student.
"Wellness program" means a program offered by an employer that is designed to promote health or prevent disease.
§38.2-3442. Preventive services.
A. Notwithstanding any provision of §38.2-3406.1,
38.2-3411.1, or any other section of this title to the contrary, a health
carrier shall provide coverage for all of the
following items and preventive
services, and shall not impose any
cost-sharing requirements such as a copayment, coinsurance, or deductible with respect to the following items and services:
1. Evidence-based
items or services that have in effect a rating of A or B in the recommendations
of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, with respect to the individual
involved;
2. Immunizations for
routine use in children, adolescents, and adults that have in effect a
recommendation from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with respect to the individual
involved. For purposes of this subdivision, a recommendation from the Advisory
Committee on Immunization Practices of the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention is considered in effect after it has been adopted by the Director of
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and a recommendation is
considered to be for routine use if it is listed on the Immunization Schedules
of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention;
3. With respect to
infants, children, and adolescents, evidence-informed preventive care and
screenings provided for in comprehensive guidelines supported by the Health
Resources and Services Administration; and
4. With respect to
women, evidence-informed preventive care and screenings recommended in
comprehensive guidelines supported by the Health Resources and Services
Administration.
B. A health carrier is not required
to shall
provide coverage for any items or services
within the scope of preventive services to the extent that
they are specified in any recommendation or guideline described in subsection A after the recommendation
or guideline is no longer
issued pursuant to the PPACA in effect
on January 1, 2019.
C. A health carrier
shall at least annually at the beginning of each new plan year or policy year
revise the preventive services covered under its health benefit plans pursuant
to this section consistent with the most current recommendations of the U.S.
Preventive Services Task Force, the Advisory Committee on Immunization
Practices of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the guidelines
with respect to infants, children, adolescents, and women evidence-based
preventive care and screenings by the Health Resources and Services
Administration in effect at the time.
D. 1. A health carrier may impose cost-sharing requirements
with respect to an office visit if an item or service is billed separately or
is tracked as individual encounter data separately from the office visit.
2. A health carrier shall not impose cost-sharing requirements with respect to an office visit if an item or service is not billed separately or is not tracked as individual encounter data separately from the office visit and the primary purpose of the office visit is the delivery of the item or service.
3. A health carrier may impose cost-sharing requirements with respect to an office visit if an item or service is not billed separately or is not tracked as individual encounter data separately from the office visit and the primary purpose of the office visit is not the delivery of the item or service.
E. D. Nothing in this section
shall preclude a health carrier that has a network of providers from imposing
cost-sharing requirements for items or services that are delivered by an
out-of-network provider.
F. E. This section shall apply to
any health carrier providing individual or group health insurance coverage,
except for any grandfathered plan.
§38.2-3451. Essential health benefits.
A. Notwithstanding any provision of
§38.2-3431 or any other section of this title to the contrary law to the contrary, a health carrier any person offering or providing a health benefit
plan providing individual or small group health
insurance coverage, including (i)
short-term and catastrophic health insurance policies, and policies that pay on
a cost-incurred basis; (ii) association health plans; (iii)
plans provided by a multiple-employer welfare
arrangement; (iv) plans provided pursuant to Article 17 (§
6.2-951 et seq.) of Chapter 8 of Title 6.2; and (v) plans
provided under §23.1-106, shall
provide that such coverage includes the
essential health benefits as required by §
1302(a) of the PPACA. The essential health benefits package
may also include associated cost-sharing requirements or limitations. No
qualified health insurance plan that is sold or offered for sale through an
exchange established or operating in the Commonwealth shall provide coverage
for abortions, regardless of whether such coverage is provided through the plan
or is offered as a separate optional rider thereto, provided that such
limitation shall not apply to an abortion performed (i) (a)
when the life of the mother is endangered by a physical disorder, physical
illness, or physical injury, including a life-endangering physical condition
caused by or arising from the pregnancy itself, or (ii) (b)
when the pregnancy is the result of an alleged act of rape or incest.
B. The provisions of subsection A
regarding the inclusion of the PPACA-required requiring minimum essential
pediatric oral health benefits shall be deemed to be satisfied for health
benefit plans made available in the small group market or individual market in
the Commonwealth outside an exchange, as defined in §38.2-3455, issued for
policy or plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2015, that do not include
the PPACA-required minimum
essential pediatric oral health benefits if the health carrier has obtained
reasonable assurance that such pediatric oral health benefits are provided to
the purchaser of the health benefit plan. The health carrier shall be deemed to
have obtained reasonable assurance that such pediatric oral health benefits are
provided to the purchaser of the health benefit plan if:
1. At least one qualified dental plan, as defined in §
38.2-3455, (i) offers the minimum essential pediatric oral health benefits that are required under the PPACA
and (ii) is available for purchase by the small group or individual purchaser;
and
2. The health carrier prominently discloses, in a form
approved by the Commission, at the time that it offers the health benefit plan
that the plan does not provide the PPACA-required
minimum essential pediatric oral health benefits.