[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2174 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2174

  To amend the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to provide 
greater flexibility in offering health insurance coverage across State 
                                 lines.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 27, 2014

 Mr. Warner (for himself, Mr. Manchin, Ms. Landrieu, Ms. Heitkamp, Mr. 
Begich, Mr. Franken, and Ms. Klobuchar) introduced the following bill; 
     which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, 
                     Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to provide 
greater flexibility in offering health insurance coverage across State 
                                 lines.

    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 ``Commonsense Competition and Access 
to Health Insurance Act''.

SEC. 2. PROVIDING SMALL BUSINESS HEALTH INSURANCE ACROSS STATE LINES.

    Section 1333(a)(1)(A) of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care 
Act (42 U.S.C. 18053(a)(1)(A)) is amended by inserting ``and small 
group markets'' after ``individual markets''.

SEC. 3. REPORT AND MODELS.

    Section 1333 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (42 
U.S.C. 18053) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(b) NAIC Report and Models.--
            ``(1) In general.--Not later than December 31, 2014, the 
        Secretary shall request that the National Association of 
        Insurance Commissioners submit to the Secretary a report 
        concerning health plans provided for under this section. Such 
        report shall include--
                    ``(A) a description of the challenges that States 
                would face by permitting issuers of qualified health 
                plans to offer such plans in States other than those 
                States where such plan was originally written or 
                issued;
                    ``(B) an assessment of how an out-of-State insurer 
                would go about building an adequate provider network;
                    ``(C) a description of how such challenges could be 
                lessened without weakening the enforcement of laws and 
                regulations described in subsection (a)(1)(B)(i) in any 
                State that is included in a compact under this section;
                    ``(D) a description of the commonalities that exist 
                in State laws and opportunities to allow issuers of 
                qualified health plans to offer such plans in States 
                other than those States where such plan was originally 
                written or issued; and
                    ``(E) models to be used by States to establish and 
                enter into interstate health care choice compacts under 
                this section, which--
                            ``(i) may include model legislation for use 
                        by States to enact laws to enter into such 
                        compacts;
                            ``(ii) shall identify how States would 
                        continue to enforce, and not weaken, the laws 
                        and regulations described in subsection 
                        (a)(1)(B)(i) in any State that is included in 
                        such compact; and
                            ``(iii) shall identify how such models 
                        would ensure that there is no violation of the 
                        conditions for Secretarial approval under 
                        subsection (a)(3).
            ``(2) Other organizations and entities.--In making the 
        request under paragraph (1), the Secretary may also request 
        that the National Association of Insurance Commissioners gather 
        concepts for inclusion in the report under such paragraph from 
        organizations and entities that have experience in offering 
        qualified health plans in States in which such plans were not 
        originally issued.
    ``(c) Report by Secretary.--Not later than December 31, 2014, the 
Secretary, in consultation with the National Association of Insurance 
Commissioners, shall submit to Congress a report that describes how the 
Secretary may utilize the flexibility provided by section 1311(f)(1) 
(relating to allowing a regional or interstate exchange) to allow 
health insurance issuers offering qualified health plans in an Exchange 
operated by the Federal Government to offer plans in a State other than 
the State in which such plan was originally written or issued. Such 
report shall describe how an Exchange operated by the Federal 
Government can be a conduit to forming interstate insurance State 
compacts.''.
                                 <all>