Title: RICE Act
Policy area: Health

Summary:
Readable Insurance Coverage Explanations Act or the RICE Act
This bill requires health insurance plans to annually submit, in a machine-readable file, a summary of benefits and coverage under the plan to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). HHS must publish the summaries online.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8889 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 8889

    To provide for improved access to group health plan and health 
   insurance coverage summary of benefits and coverage explanation, 
require a joint report by the Secretaries of Health and Human Services, 
Treasury, and Labor relating to summaries of benefits and coverage, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 19, 2022

Ms. Plaskett (for herself, Mr. Rice of South Carolina, and Mr. Smucker) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
  Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and 
    Means, and Education and Labor, for a period to be subsequently 
   determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
 provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To provide for improved access to group health plan and health 
   insurance coverage summary of benefits and coverage explanation, 
require a joint report by the Secretaries of Health and Human Services, 
Treasury, and Labor relating to summaries of benefits and coverage, and 
                          for other purposes.

    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 ``Readable Insurance Coverage 
Explanations Act'' or the ``RICE Act''.

SEC. 2. IMPROVED ACCESS TO GROUP HEALTH PLAN AND HEALTH INSURANCE 
              COVERAGE SUMMARY OF BENEFITS AND COVERAGE EXPLANATION.

    (a) In General.--Section 2715(d) of the Public Health Service Act 
(42 U.S.C. 300gg-15(d)) is amended by adding at the end the following 
new paragraph:
            ``(5) Machine readable submission and public posting.--
                    ``(A) Annual submission.--Not later than for plan 
                years beginning on or after January 1, 2024, each 
                entity described in paragraph (3) shall annually submit 
                to the Secretary the summaries of benefits and coverage 
                described in paragraph (1), with respect to such 
                entity, in a machine-readable file (as defined in 
                section 147.210(a)(2)(xiv) of title 45, Code of Federal 
                Regulations, or any successor regulation).
                    ``(B) Public posting.--Not later than 60 days after 
                the date of submission of summaries of benefits and 
                coverage pursuant to subparagraph (A), the Secretary 
                shall make the summaries of benefits and coverage 
                available on a public Federal Government website.''.
    (b) Joint Report by Secretaries of Labor, Health and Human 
Services, and Treasury.--Not later than January 1, 2024, the 
Secretaries of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Treasury shall 
jointly conduct a study, and submit to Congress a report, containing--
            (1) the extent to which summaries of benefits and coverage 
        described in section 2715(d)(1) of the Public Health Service 
        Act (42 U.S.C. 300gg-15(d)(1)) are accessible and 
        comprehensible to individuals applying for or enrolled in a 
        group health plan or group or individual health insurance 
        coverage (as such terms are defined in section 2791 of such Act 
        (42 U.S.C. 300gg-91)); and
            (2) recommendations for improving such access and 
        comprehension.
    (c) Implementation by Secretaries of Labor, Health and Human 
Services, and Treasury.--The Secretaries of Labor, Health and Human 
Services, and the Treasury may implement the provisions of, including 
the amendments made by, this section through interim final rule, sub-
regulatory guidance, program instruction, or otherwise.
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