[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1149 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1149

  To eliminate annual and lifetime aggregate limits imposed by health 
                                 plans.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 21, 2009

Mr. Reid (for Mr. Rockefeller) introduced the following bill; which was 
 read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, 
                              and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To eliminate annual and lifetime aggregate limits imposed by health 
                                 plans.

    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 ``Annual and Lifetime Health Care 
Limit Elimination Act of 2009''.

SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE EMPLOYEE RETIREMENT INCOME SECURITY ACT OF 
              1974.

    (a) In General.--Subpart B of part 7 of subtitle B of title I of 
the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1185 et 
seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 715. ELIMINATION OF ANNUAL OR LIFETIME AGGREGATE LIMITS.

    ``(a) In General.--A group health plan and a health insurance 
issuer providing health insurance coverage in connection with a group 
health plan, may not impose an aggregate dollar annual or lifetime 
limit with respect to benefits payable under the plan or coverage.
    ``(b) Definition.--In this section, the term `aggregate dollar 
annual or lifetime limit' means, with respect to benefits under a group 
health plan or health insurance coverage, a dollar limitation on the 
total amount that may be paid with respect to such benefits under the 
plan or health insurance coverage with respect to an individual or 
other coverage unit on an annual or lifetime basis.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents in section 1 of such 
Act, is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 714 the 
following new item:

``Sec. 715. Elimination of annual or lifetime aggregate limits.''.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply with respect to plan years beginning on or after the date that is 
1 year after the date of enactment of this Act.

SEC. 3. AMENDMENT TO THE PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE ACT RELATING TO THE 
              GROUP MARKET.

    (a) In General.--Subpart 2 of part A of title XXVII of the Public 
Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300gg-4 et seq.) is amended by adding at 
the end the following:

``SEC. 2708. ELIMINATION OF ANNUAL OR LIFETIME AGGREGATE LIMITS.

    ``(a) In General.--A group health plan and a health insurance 
issuer providing health insurance coverage in connection with a group 
health plan, may not impose an aggregate dollar annual or lifetime 
limit with respect to benefits payable under the plan or coverage.
    ``(b) Definition.--In this section, the term `aggregate dollar 
annual or lifetime limit' means, with respect to benefits under a group 
health plan or health insurance coverage, a dollar limitation on the 
total amount that may be paid with respect to such benefits under the 
plan or health insurance coverage with respect to an individual or 
other coverage unit on an annual or lifetime basis.''.
    (b) Individual Market.--Subpart 2 of part B of title XXVII of the 
Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300gg-51 et seq.) is amended by 
adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 2754. ELIMINATION OF ANNUAL OR LIFETIME AGGREGATE LIMITS.

    ``The provisions of section 2708 shall apply to health insurance 
coverage offered by a health insurance issuer in the individual market 
in the same manner as they apply to health insurance coverage offered 
by a health insurance issuer in connection with a group health plan in 
the small or large group market.''.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply with respect to plan years beginning on or after the date that is 
1 year after the date of enactment of this Act.
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