Title: Territory Health Insurance Tax Relief Act of 2019
Policy area: Health

Summary:
Territory Health Insurance Tax Relief Act of 2019
This bill lowers the annual fee on health insurers, specifically for those insurers that collect premiums from residents in U.S. territories.
The annual fee for a health insurer is currently calculated based on the insurer's share of total premiums from the preceding calendar year. The bill excludes premiums paid by residents of U.S. territories from a health insurer's net premiums, but still includes the premiums of such residents in the determination of total premiums from the preceding year, thereby lowering the fee for these insurers.
Under current law, the fee is suspended for calendar 2019 (i.e., there is no fee based on premiums from calendar 2018).

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 19 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 19

 To exempt health insurance of residents of United States territories 
           from the annual fee on health insurance providers.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 3, 2019

   Mr. Rubio introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
                  referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To exempt health insurance of residents of United States territories 
           from the annual fee on health insurance providers.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Territory Health Insurance Tax 
Relief Act of 2019''.

SEC. 2. HEALTH INSURANCE OF RESIDENTS OF UNITED STATES TERRITORIES 
              EXEMPT FROM ANNUAL FEE ON HEALTH INSURANCE PROVIDERS.

    (a) In General.--Section 9010(b) of the Patient Protection and 
Affordable Care Act is amended by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph:
            ``(4) Exception for health insurance of residents of united 
        states territories.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Solely for purposes of paragraph 
                (1)(A), the term `United States health risk' shall not 
                include the health risk of any individual who is a bona 
                fide resident of Guam, American Samoa, the Northern 
                Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, or the Virgin Islands (as 
                determined under section 937(a)).
                    ``(B) Exception not to increase fee allocation.--
                The amount determined under paragraph (1)(B) shall be 
                determined without regard to subparagraph (A) of this 
                paragraph.''.
    (b) Reporting.--Section 9010(g)(1) of the Patient Protection and 
Affordable Care Act is amended by inserting ``(and the amount of such 
net premiums to which subsection (b)(4)(A) applies)'' before the period 
at the end.
    (c) Effective Date.--
            (1) In general.--The amendments made by this section shall 
        apply to calendar years beginning after the date of the 
        enactment of this Act.
            (2) Transitional rule for reporting.--For purposes of 
        applying the amendment made by subsection (a) with respect to 
        the first calendar year beginning after the date of the 
        enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Treasury (or the 
        Secretary's designee) shall provide a method for covered 
        entities to report the information described in the amendment 
        made by subsection (b) for the calendar year which precedes 
        such first calendar year.
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