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104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1920

To protect victims of domestic violence from health insurance discrimination.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 22, 1995

Ms. MOLINARI (for herself, Mr. ENGLISH of Pennsylvania, Mr. RAMSTAD, Ms.

ROS-LEHTINEN, Mrs. VUCANOVICH, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. KING,

and Mr. PAXON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Commerce

A BILL

To protect victims of domestic violence from health insurance

discrimination.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Domestic Violence Vic5 tims Insurance Protection Act of 1995’’.

6 SEC. 2. PROTECTION OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE VICTIMS

7 FROM HEALTH INSURANCE DISCRIMINATION.

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—An insurer may not deny or can9 cel health insurance coverage for an individual solely on
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1 the basis that the individual is or has been the subject

2 of an act of domestic violence.

3 (b) INTERPRETATION.— Nothing in this section shall

4 prevent an insurer from underwriting, issuing, or renewing

5 health insurance coverage on the basis of the physical or

6 mental history of an individual so long as the insurer does

7 not take into consideration whether such individual’s con8 dition was caused by an act of domestic violence.

9 (c) STANDARDS.—

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and

11 Human Services shall request the National Associa12 tion of Insurance Commissioners to develop, within

13 9 months after the date of the enactment of the Act,

14 model regulations that specify standards with re15 spect to the requirements of this subtitle as applica16 ble to carriers and health insurance coverage.

17 (2) REVIEW OF STANDARDS.—If the National

18 Association of Insurance Commissioners develops

19 recommended regulations specifying such standards

20 within such period, the Secretary shall review the

21 standards. Such review shall be completed within 60

22 days after the date the regulations are developed.

23 Unless the Secretary determines within such period

24 that the standards do not meet the requirements,

25 such standards shall serve as the standards under
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1 this section, with such amendments as the Secretary

2 deems necessary.

3 (3) APPLICATION OF STANDARDS.—Each State

4 shall submit to the Secretary a report on steps the

5 State is taking to implement and enforce the stand6 ards established under paragraph (1) with respect to

7 carriers and health insurance coverage offered or re8 newed.

9 (d) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section:

10 (1) ACT OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.—The term

11 ‘‘act of domestic violence’’ means, with respect to an

12 individual, the occurrence of one or more acts of

13 harassment, menacing, reckless endangerment, kid14 napping, assault, attempted assault, or attempted

15 murder, in violation of Federal or State law, between

16 household or family members (including in-laws or

17 extended family), spouses or former spouses, or indi18 viduals engaged in or formerly engaged in a sexually

19 intimate relationship, where such an act has resulted

20 in actual physical or emotional injury, or has created

21 a substantial risk of physical or emotional harm to

22 such individual or such individual’s child.

23 (2) HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE.—

24 (A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in

25 subparagraph (B), the term ‘‘health insurance
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1 coverage’’ means any hospital or medical service

2 policy or certificate, hospital or medical service

3 plan contract, or health maintenance organiza4 tion contract offered by an insurer.

5 (B) EXCEPTION.—Such term does not in6 clude any of the following:

7 (i) Coverage for accident only, dental

8 only, vision only, disability income, or long9 term care insurance.

10 (ii) Medical supplemental health in11 surance.

12 (iii) Coverage issued as a supplement

13 to liability insurance.

14 (iv) Liability insurance, including gen15 eral liability insurance and automobile li16 ability insurance.

17 (v) Worker’s compensation or similar

18 insurance.

19 (vi) Automobile medical-payment in20 surance.

21 (vii) Coverage for a specified disease

22 or illness.

23 (3) INSURER.—The term ‘‘insurer’’ means an

24 insurance company, insurance service, or insurance

25 organization licensed to engage in the business of in-
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1 surance in a State, and health maintenance organi2 zation.

3 (4) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any

4 State, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the

5 Northern Mariana Islands, the Virgin Islands,

6 American Samoa, and Guam.

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