[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1948 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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116th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1948
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to permit high-deductible
health plans to provide chronic disease prevention services to plan
enrollees prior to satisfying their plan deductible.
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IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
June 24, 2019
Mr. Thune (for himself and Mr. Carper) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance
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A BILL
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to permit high-deductible
health plans to provide chronic disease prevention services to plan
enrollees prior to satisfying their plan deductible.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; FINDINGS.
(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Chronic Disease
Management Act of 2019''.
(b) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
(1) A small number of chronic diseases account for the
majority of health care spending in the United States.
(2) The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health of the
Department of Health and Human Services used a deliberative
process involving the Multiple Chronic Conditions working group
subject matter experts in clinical medicine, epidemiology, and
public health to develop a list of 20 chronic conditions that
are prevalent and potentially amenable to public health or
clinical interventions, or a combination of both.
(3) Limited and targeted interventions for many chronic
diseases prevent the need for additional, more costly therapies
associated with untreated or unmanaged chronic diseases that
lead to adverse effects on quality of life for patients.
(4) These types of chronic care preventive services should
be encouraged to maximize the effectiveness and positive
outcomes of the care provided under high-deductible health
plans.
(5) Section 223(c)(2)(C) of the Internal Revenue Code of
1986 explicitly grants the Secretary of the Treasury
flexibility in defining the scope of preventive care for
purposes of the preventive care safe harbor. As of the date of
introduction of this Act, the Secretary of the Treasury has
refrained from exercising existing authority under such section
to expand the preventive care safe harbor to include chronic
disease prevention.
(6) In the absence of an expansion of the preventive care
safe harbor by the Secretary of the Treasury, the Chronic
Disease Management Act of 2019 would expressly permit high-
deductible health plans to provide chronic disease prevention
and treatment, subject to certain limitations, prior to a plan
enrollee having met their plan deductible.
(7) Allowing health savings account-eligible high-
deductible health plans to cover chronic disease prevention and
treatment on a pre-deductible basis promotes the concept of
Value-Based Insurance Design, which is an effective tool to
improve the quality and reduce the cost of care for Americans
with chronic diseases, with improved outcomes via increased
medication adherence, reduced complications, and decreased
emergency department visits.
SEC. 2. CHRONIC DISEASE PREVENTION.
(a) In General.--Section 223(c)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code of
1986 is amended by redesignating subparagraph (D) as subparagraph (E)
and by inserting after subparagraph (C) the following new subparagraph:
``(D) Safe harbor for absence of deductible for
care related to chronic conditions.--A plan shall not
fail to be treated as a high-deductible health plan by
reason of failing to have a deductible for care related
to the treatment of any chronic condition, as
determined by the Assistant Secretary for Health of the
Department of Health and Human Services.''.
(b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall
apply to coverage for months beginning after the date of the enactment
of this Act.
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