Holding Health Insurers Harmless Act

I 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 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 ‘‘Holding Health Insur- 4 ers Harmless Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. SAFE HARBOR FOR PRIVATE SECTOR HEALTH IN- 6 SURANCE PROVIDERS FROM ACA PENALTIES. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (b), no 8 health insurance issuer offering health insurance coverage 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:17 Jan 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H352.IH H352 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 352 IH nor sponsor of a group health plan shall be penalized, 1 fined, or otherwise punished by any agency or instrumen- 2 tality of the United States Government for a failure of 3 such coverage or plan to comply with any of the applicable 4 requirements under the Patient Protection and Affordable 5 Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconcili- 6 ation Act of 2010 (including under the amendments made 7 by such Acts). 8 (b) EXCEPTION.—Subsection (a) shall not apply with 9 respect to the requirements under section 2704 and sec- 10 tion 2714 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 11 300gg–3 and 300gg–14), including the regulations pro- 12 mulgated pursuant to such sections. 13 (c) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 14 (1) The term ‘‘agency or instrumentality’’ 15 means any department or independent agency of the 16 United States Government that is tasked with en- 17 forcing applicable requirements of the Patient Pro- 18 tection and Affordable Care Act and the Health 19 Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. 20 (2) The terms ‘‘health insurance issuer offering 21 health insurance coverage’’ and ‘‘sponsor of a group 22 health plan’’ shall be construed as consistent with 23 use of such terms for purposes of the Patient Pro- 24 tection and Affordable Care Act, and shall include 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:17 Jan 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H352.IH H352 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 352 IH any sole proprietorship, partnership, for-profit cor- 1 poration, nonprofit corporation, or any other non- 2 governmental entity that engages in the sale or dis- 3 tribution of health insurance products. 4 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:17 Jan 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H352.IH H352 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS