[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2494 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2494

 To provide standards for short-term limited duration health insurance 
                               policies.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 5, 2018

Ms. Baldwin (for herself, Mrs. Gillibrand, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Murphy, Mr. 
 Van Hollen, Ms. Smith, Mr. Kaine, Mr. Wyden, Ms. Warren, Ms. Harris, 
 Mr. Sanders, Ms. Hassan, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Blumenthal, Mrs. Feinstein, 
 Ms. Stabenow, and Mr. Brown) introduced the following bill; which was 
 read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, 
                              and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide standards for short-term limited duration health insurance 
                               policies.

    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 ``Fair Care Act''.

SEC. 2. SHORT-TERM LIMITED DURATION HEALTH INSURANCE POLICIES.

    (a) Prohibition on Proposed Rule.--Notwithstanding any other 
provision of law, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the 
Secretary of the Treasury, and the Secretary of Labor may not take any 
action to implement, enforce, or otherwise give effect to the proposed 
rule relating to the definition of short-term limited-duration 
insurance (83 Fed. Reg. 7437-7447, February 21, 2018), insofar as such 
proposed rule relates to a revised definition of the term ``short-term 
limited duration insurance'' and the Secretaries shall implement, 
enforce, and otherwise give effect to the definition of such term as 
applied by the Secretaries under the regulations in effect on the date 
of enactment of this Act (81 Fed. Reg. 75316), and such regulations 
shall continue in effect with respect to policies until the effective 
date described in subsection (b)(2).
    (b) Standards.--
            (1) In general.--Section 2791(b) of the Public Health 
        Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300gg-91) is amended by adding at the 
        end the following:
            ``(6) Short-term limited duration insurance.--The term 
        `short-term limited duration insurance' means health insurance 
        coverage provided pursuant to a contract with a health 
        insurance issuer that--
                    ``(A) has a specified, limited duration not to 
                exceed 93 days after the original effective date of the 
                contract, except that the health plan may permit 
                coverage to continue until the end of the period of 
                hospitalization for a condition for which the covered 
                person was hospitalized on the day that coverage would 
                otherwise have ended;
                    ``(B) is non-renewable and issued only to 
                individuals who have not been covered under a short-
                term limited duration insurance policy from any health 
                insurance issuer within the prior 12 months;
                    ``(C) displays prominently in marketing materials, 
                the contract, and in any application materials provided 
                in connection with enrollment in such insurance a 
                notice to consumers that includes such information 
                which the State insurance commissioner deems sufficient 
                to inform the individual that coverage and benefits are 
                limited;
                    ``(D) covers essential health benefits as set forth 
                in section 1302 of the Patient Protection and 
                Affordable Care Act;
                    ``(E) meets the following requirements for 
                individual health insurance coverage as set forth in 
                this title--
                            ``(i) section 2701 (relating to fair health 
                        insurance premiums);
                            ``(ii) section 2702 (relating to guaranteed 
                        availability of coverage), except as provided 
                        in paragraph (1) consistent with the 
                        limitations of subsection (c);
                            ``(iii) section 2704 (relating to the 
                        prohibition of pre-existing condition 
                        exclusions or other discrimination based on 
                        health status);
                            ``(iv) section 2705 (relating to the 
                        prohibition of discrimination against 
                        individual participants and beneficiaries based 
                        on health status);
                            ``(v) section 2706 (relating to 
                        nondiscrimination in health care);
                            ``(vi) section 2707 (relating to 
                        comprehensive health insurance coverage);
                            ``(vii) section 2711 (prohibiting lifetime 
                        and annual limits);
                            ``(viii) section 2712 (prohibiting 
                        rescissions);
                            ``(ix) section 2713 (coverage of preventive 
                        health services);
                            ``(x) section 2714 (relating to coverage of 
                        dependents); and
                            ``(xi) section 2719 (relating to appeals); 
                        and
                    ``(F) upon the issuance of a health insurance plan 
                that an issuer asserts to be short-term limited 
                duration insurance, the issuer of such plan shall 
                provide documentation to the Secretary and the State 
                insurance commissioner, in a form determined by the 
                Secretary, regarding the individuals covered by the 
                plan and the duration of the plan which shall be 
                reviewed by the entity responsible for enforcement 
                under section 2722, together with documentation 
                submitted by other issuers, to determine whether the 
                plan satisfies the requirement under subparagraph (B) 
                and, if not, such entity shall take appropriate 
                enforcement action.''.
            (2) Effective date.--The amendment made by paragraph (1) 
        shall apply to plan years beginning on or after January 1, 
        2019.
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