Patient Opportunity Protection Act of 2015

Bill: 114-hr-4299
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Blum, Rod [R-IA-1]
Introduced: 2015-12-18
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Health care costs and insurance

Health care coverage and access

Hospital care
Latest action: action_date: 2015-12-18
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.

Summaries:
action_date: 2015-12-18
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p><b>Patient Opportunity Protection Act of 2015</b></p> <p>This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to prohibit the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from imposing additional conditions on excepted benefits, which are health benefits that are not subject to requirements applicable to group health plans or individual health insurance.</p> <p>In the individual health insurance market, HHS may not condition the treatment of fixed indemnity insurance as an excepted benefit on the beneficiary satisfying the requirement for minimum essential coverage.</p> The amendments made by this bill are retroactively effective as if included in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

tv_txt: I 114th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 4299 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES December 18, 2015 Mr. Blum (for himself, Mr. King of Iowa , and Mr. Chabot ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To amend the Public Health Service Act to prevent the Secretary of Health and Human Services from limiting access to excepted benefits, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Patient Opportunity Protection Act of 2015 . 2. Treatment of hospital indemnity or other fixed indemnity insurance as excepted benefits Section 2763 of the Public Health Service Act ( 42 U.S.C. 300gg–63 ) is amended— (1) in subsection (b), by striking The requirements of and inserting the following: (1) Exception The requirements of ; and (2) by adding at the end the following: (2) Hospital indemnity or other fixed indemnity insurance In applying paragraph (1), the Secretary shall not take any action (by regulation, guidance, policy statement, or otherwise) to require a hospital indemnity or other fixed indemnity insurance (as described in section 2791(c)(3)(B)) to be treated as an excepted benefit only if the benefits of the hospital indemnity or other fixed indemnity insurance are provided to an individual who— (A) has other health coverage that is minimum essential coverage within the meaning of section 5000A(f) of the Internal Revenue Code; or (B) is otherwise treated as having such minimum essential coverage. . 3. No additional conditions for treatment as excepted benefit Section 2791 of the Public Health Service Act ( 42 U.S.C. 300gg–91 ) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection: (f) No additional conditions for treatment as excepted benefit In applying subsection (c), the Secretary shall not impose any additional condition that must be satisfied in order for benefits (or any combination thereof) to be treated as excepted benefits, including any condition that to be an excepted benefit the benefits must be provided only to individuals who have other health insurance coverage that is major medical coverage or is minimum essential coverage within the meaning of section 5000A(f) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. . 4. Effective date The amendments made by sections 2 and 3 shall take effect as if included in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ( Public Law 111–148 ), and any final rule, guidance, policy statement, or other action taken by the Secretary of Health and Human Services that is inconsistent with such amendments is null and void.