Bill Text: CA AB2159 | 2019-2020 | Regular Session | Introduced

---

Bill Title: Health care coverage.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-03-17 - In committee: Hearing postponed by committee. [AB2159 Detail]

Download: California-2019-AB2159-Introduced.html

---

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 2159

---

Introduced by Assembly Member Wood

February 10, 2020

---

An act to repeal and add Section 10112.1 of the Insurance Code, relating to health care coverage.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 2159, as introduced, Wood. Health care coverage.

The federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) enacts various health care market reforms. Existing law provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law requires a health insurer that issues, sells, renews, or offers plan contracts for health care coverage in the state to comply with the requirements of the PPACA, and any rules or regulations issued under the PPACA, that generally prohibit a health insurer offering group or individual coverage from imposing lifetime or annual limits on the dollar value of benefits for an insured. Existing law requires an insurer to comply with those provisions to the extent required by federal law.

This bill would delete the requirement that a health insurer comply with the prohibition on lifetime or annual limits to the extent required by federal law, and would instead prohibit an individual or group health insurance policy from establishing lifetime or annual limits on the dollar value of benefits for an insured, thereby indefinitely extending the prohibitions on lifetime or annual limits.

Digest Key

Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: NO   Local Program: NO  

---

Bill Text

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

 Section 10112.1 of the Insurance Code is repealed.

10112.1.

(a)To the extent required by federal law, every health insurer that issues, sells, renews, or offers policies for health care coverage in this state shall comply with the requirements of Section 2711 of the federal Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 300gg-11) and any rules or regulations issued under that section, in addition to any state laws or regulations that do not prevent the application of those requirements.

(b)Nothing in this section shall be construed to apply to a health care service plan contract or insurance policy issued, sold, renewed, or offered for health care services or coverage provided in the Medi-Cal program (Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 14000) of Part 3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code), the Healthy Families Program (Part 6.2 (commencing with Section 12693)), the Access for Infants and Mothers Program (Part 6.3 (commencing with Section 12695)), the California Major Risk Medical Insurance Program (Part 6.5 (commencing with Section 12700)), or the Federal Temporary High Risk Insurance Pool (Part 6.6 (commencing with Section 12739.5)), to the extent consistent with the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111-148).

SEC. 2.

 Section 10112.1 is added to the Insurance Code, to read:

10112.1.

 (a) An individual or group health insurance policy shall not establish either of the following:

(1) Lifetime limits on the dollar value of benefits for an insured.

(2) Annual limits on the dollar value of benefits for an insured.

(b) Subdivision (a) does not prevent a group health insurance policy from placing annual or lifetime per-insured limits on specific covered benefits that are not essential health benefits, as defined under Section 10112.27, to the extent that those limits are otherwise permitted under federal or state law.