[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 352 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 352

 To remove penalties for health insurers under the Patient Protection 
 and Affordable Care Act and Health Care and Education Reconciliation 
                              Act of 2010.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 8, 2019

 Mr. Yoho (for himself, Mr. Weber of Texas, Mr. Babin, Mr. DesJarlais, 
and Mr. Gibbs) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To remove penalties for health insurers under the Patient Protection 
 and Affordable Care Act and Health Care and Education Reconciliation 
                              Act of 2010.

    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 ``Holding Health Insurers Harmless 
Act''.

SEC. 2. SAFE HARBOR FOR PRIVATE SECTOR HEALTH INSURANCE PROVIDERS FROM 
              ACA PENALTIES.

    (a) In General.--Subject to subsection (b), no health insurance 
issuer offering health insurance coverage nor sponsor of a group health 
plan shall be penalized, fined, or otherwise punished by any agency or 
instrumentality of the United States Government for a failure of such 
coverage or plan to comply with any of the applicable requirements 
under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health 
Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (including under the 
amendments made by such Acts).
    (b) Exception.--Subsection (a) shall not apply with respect to the 
requirements under section 2704 and section 2714 of the Public Health 
Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300gg-3 and 300gg-14), including the regulations 
promulgated pursuant to such sections.
    (c) Definitions.--For purposes of this section:
            (1) The term ``agency or instrumentality'' means any 
        department or independent agency of the United States 
        Government that is tasked with enforcing applicable 
        requirements of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act 
        and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.
            (2) The terms ``health insurance issuer offering health 
        insurance coverage'' and ``sponsor of a group health plan'' 
        shall be construed as consistent with use of such terms for 
        purposes of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and 
        shall include any sole proprietorship, partnership, for-profit 
        corporation, nonprofit corporation, or any other 
        nongovernmental entity that engages in the sale or distribution 
        of health insurance products.
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