[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6000 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6000

    To provide for criminal liability for the denial of health care 
   coverage of a treatment or an individual, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 30, 2010

 Mr. Grayson introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
 Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on 
   the Judiciary, 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 criminal liability for the denial of health care 
   coverage of a treatment or an individual, 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 ``Thou Shalt Not Kill Thy Customers 
Act''.

SEC. 2. CRIMINAL DENIAL OF HEALTH CARE COVERAGE.

    (a) Offense.--Any responsible officer or employee of an insurance 
entity that engages in a denial of coverage under a health plan offered 
by such entity in violation of the provisions of title XXVII of the 
Public Health Service Act (including amendments to such Act made by the 
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111-148)), and 
such insurance entity, shall be fined in accordance with title 18, 
United States Code, imprisoned for not more than one year, or both.
    (b) Enhanced Penalty if Death Results.--Any conduct of any 
responsible officer or employee or insurance entity that subjects such 
person or entity to a fine or imprisonment under subsection (a) shall 
also be punishable as involuntary manslaughter under section 1112(b) of 
title 18, United States Code, if the conduct for which the person or 
entity is fined or imprisoned results in death.

SEC. 3. IDENTIFICATION AND REPORT OF INSTANCES OF DENIAL OF HEALTH CARE 
              TREATMENT AND COVERAGE.

    (a) The Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human 
Services shall establish an Internet Web site and a toll-free telephone 
number to receive reports of instances of denial of health care 
treatment or coverage by insurance entities for investigation of such 
reports.
    (b) Such toll-free telephone number shall be operated in a similar 
manner to the toll-free telephone number described in subsection (c)(4) 
of section 1804 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395b-2).
    (c) The Inspector General shall report to the Attorney General for 
further investigation and prosecution all such instances for which the 
Inspector General determines sufficient evidence exists of a violation 
described in section 2(a) by an insurance entity or responsible officer 
or employee of such entity.

SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of the Congress that each State should, through the 
State insurance commissioner or State official responsbile for the 
regulation of insurance in such State, thoroughly investigate 
violations of this Act by any insurance entity or responsible officer 
or employee of such entity.

SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) The term ``denial of coverage'' means, with respect to 
        a health plan offered by an insurance entity--
                    (A) in the case of an individual enrolled in or 
                benefitting from such plan, denying coverage of or care 
                for a treatment for such individual; or
                    (B) in the case of an individual seeking enrollment 
                in or benefit from such plan, the denial of coverage of 
                or care for such individual under such plan.
            (2) The term ``insurance entity'' means a group health plan 
        or a health insurance issuer offering group or individual 
        health insurance coverage (as such terms are defined in section 
        2791 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300gg-91)).
            (3) The term ``responsible officer or employee'' means any 
        director, officer, employee, or agent of an insurance entity 
        who engages in any of the following conduct:
                    (A) Making a decision to deny coverage or care.
                    (B) Designing the institutional policies of the 
                insurance entity that resulted in the denial of 
                coverage or care.
                    (C) Materially influencing the policy or decision 
                to deny coverage or care.
                    (D) Any other conduct that constitutes an offense 
                under this Act, including any related offense under 
                section 2 of title 18, United States Code.
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