Justice for Patients Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3947 To prohibit the inclusion of mandatory predispute arbitration clauses and clauses limiting class action lawsuits in health insurance contracts. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 16, 2021 Ms. PORTER (for herself, Mr. DOGGETT, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. DELAURO, and Mr. POCAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, and Education and Labor, for a period to be subse- quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To prohibit the inclusion of mandatory predispute arbitration clauses and clauses limiting class action lawsuits in health insurance contracts. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Justice for Patients 4 Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:27 Jul 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3947.IH H3947 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3947 IH SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON MANDATORY PREDISPUTE ARBI- 1 TRATION AND LIMITATIONS ON CLASS AC- 2 TION LAWSUITS. 3 (a) PHSA.—Part D of title XXVII of the Public 4 Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300gg–111 et seq.) is 5 amended by adding at the end the following new section: 6 ‘‘SEC. 2799A–11. PROHIBITION ON INCLUSION OF CERTAIN 7 REQUIREMENTS IN HEALTH INSURANCE 8 CONTRACTS. 9 ‘‘(a) PROHIBITION ON MANDATORY PREDISPUTE AR- 10 BITRATION.—A group health plan and group or individual 11 health insurance coverage shall not include any predispute 12 arbitration clause that requires the arbitration of claims 13 under such plan or coverage. 14 ‘‘(b) PROHIBITION ON LIMITATION OF CLASS AC- 15 TIONS.—A group health plan and group or individual 16 health insurance coverage shall not include any limitation 17 on the ability of an enrollee of such plan or coverage to 18 engage in a class action lawsuit relating to the administra- 19 tion of such plan or coverage. 20 ‘‘(c) APPLICABILITY.—An issue as to whether this 21 section applies with respect to a dispute shall be deter- 22 mined under Federal law. The applicability of this section 23 to an agreement to arbitrate and the validity and enforce- 24 ability of an agreement to which this section applies shall 25 be determined by a court, rather than an arbitrator, irre- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:27 Jul 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3947.IH H3947 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3947 IH spective of whether the party resisting arbitration chal- 1 lenges the arbitration agreement specifically or in conjunc- 2 tion with other terms of the contract containing such 3 agreement, and irrespective of whether the agreement pur- 4 ports to delegate such determinations to an arbitrator.’’. 5 (b) ERISA.— 6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subpart B of part 7 of sub- 7 title B of title I of the Employee Retirement Income 8 Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1185 et seq.) is 9 amended by adding at the end the following new sec- 10 tion: 11 ‘‘SEC. 726. PROHIBITION ON INCLUSION OF CERTAIN RE- 12 QUIREMENTS IN HEALTH INSURANCE CON- 13 TRACTS. 14 ‘‘(a) PROHIBITION ON MANDATORY PREDISPUTE AR- 15 BITRATION.—A group health plan or a health insurance 16 issuer offering group health insurance coverage shall not 17 include any predispute arbitration clause that requires the 18 arbitration of claims under such plan or coverage. 19 ‘‘(b) PROHIBITION ON LIMITATION OF CLASS AC- 20 TIONS.—A group health plan or a health insurance issuer 21 offering group health insurance coverage shall not include 22 any limitation on the ability of an enrollee of such cov- 23 erage to engage in a class action lawsuit relating to the 24 administration of such plan or coverage. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:27 Jul 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3947.IH H3947 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3947 IH ‘‘(c) APPLICABILITY.—An issue as to whether this 1 section applies with respect to a dispute shall be deter- 2 mined under Federal law. The applicability of this section 3 to an agreement to arbitrate and the validity and enforce- 4 ability of an agreement to which this section applies shall 5 be determined by a court, rather than an arbitrator, irre- 6 spective of whether the party resisting arbitration chal- 7 lenges the arbitration agreement specifically or in conjunc- 8 tion with other terms of the contract containing such 9 agreement, and irrespective of whether the agreement pur- 10 ports to delegate such determinations to an arbitrator.’’. 11 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of con- 12 tents in section 1 of such Act is amended by adding 13 at the end the following new item: 14 ‘‘Sec. 726. Prohibition on inclusion of certain requirements in health insurance contracts.’’. (c) IRC.— 15 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter B of chapter 16 100 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amend- 17 ed by adding at the end the following new section: 18 ‘‘SEC. 9826. PROHIBITION ON INCLUSION OF CERTAIN RE- 19 QUIREMENTS IN HEALTH INSURANCE CON- 20 TRACTS. 21 ‘‘(a) PROHIBITION ON MANDATORY PREDISPUTE AR- 22 BITRATION.—A group health plan shall not include any 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:27 Jul 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3947.IH H3947 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3947 IH predispute arbitration clause that requires the arbitration 1 of claims under such plan. 2 ‘‘(b) PROHIBITION ON LIMITATION OF CLASS AC- 3 TIONS.—A group health plan shall not include any limita- 4 tion on the ability of an enrollee of such plan to engage 5 in a class action lawsuit relating to the administration of 6 such plan. 7 ‘‘(c) APPLICABILITY.—An issue as to whether this 8 section applies with respect to a dispute shall be deter- 9 mined under Federal law. The applicability of this section 10 to an agreement to arbitrate and the validity and enforce- 11 ability of an agreement to which this section applies shall 12 be determined by a court, rather than an arbitrator, irre- 13 spective of whether the party resisting arbitration chal- 14 lenges the arbitration agreement specifically or in conjunc- 15 tion with other terms of the contract containing such 16 agreement, and irrespective of whether the agreement pur- 17 ports to delegate such determinations to an arbitrator.’’. 18 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec- 19 tions for such subchapter is amended by adding at 20 the end the following new item: 21 ‘‘Sec. 9826. Prohibition on inclusion of certain requirements in health insur- ance contracts.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:27 Jul 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3947.IH H3947 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS