Chronic Disease Management Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3709 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to permit high-deductible health plans to provide chronic disease prevention services to plan enroll- ees prior to satisfying their plan deductible. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY 11, 2019 Mr. BLUMENAUER (for himself and Mr. REED) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 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 Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; FINDINGS. 3 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4 ‘‘Chronic Disease Management Act of 2019’’. 5 (b) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:57 Jul 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3709.IH H3709 jspears on DSK3GMQ082PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3709 IH (1) A small number of chronic diseases account 1 for the majority of health care spending in the 2 United States. 3 (2) Limited and targeted interventions for 4 many chronic diseases prevent the need for addi- 5 tional, more costly therapies associated with un- 6 treated or unmanaged chronic diseases that lead to 7 adverse effects on quality of life for patients. 8 (3) These types of chronic care preventive serv- 9 ices should be encouraged to maximize the effective- 10 ness and positive outcomes of the care provided 11 under high-deductible health plans. 12 (4) Section 223(c)(2)(C) of the Internal Rev- 13 enue Code of 1986 explicitly grants the Secretary of 14 the Treasury flexibility in defining the scope of pre- 15 ventive care for purposes of the preventive care safe 16 harbor. As of the date of introduction of this Act, 17 the Secretary of the Treasury has refrained from ex- 18 ercising existing authority under such section to ex- 19 pand the preventive care safe harbor to include 20 chronic disease prevention. 21 (5) In the absence of an expansion of the pre- 22 ventive care safe harbor by the Secretary of the 23 Treasury, the Chronic Disease Management Act of 24 2019 would expressly permit high-deductible health 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:57 Jul 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3709.IH H3709 jspears on DSK3GMQ082PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3709 IH plans to provide chronic disease prevention and 1 treatment, subject to certain limitations, prior to a 2 plan enrollee having met their plan deductible. 3 (6) Allowing health savings account-eligible 4 high-deductible health plans to cover chronic disease 5 prevention and treatment on a pre-deductible basis 6 promotes the concept of Value-Based Insurance De- 7 sign, which is an effective tool to improve the quality 8 and reduce the cost of care for Americans with 9 chronic diseases, with improved outcomes via in- 10 creased medication adherence, reduced complica- 11 tions, and decreased emergency department visits. 12 SEC. 2. CHRONIC DISEASE PREVENTION. 13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 223(c)(2) of the Internal 14 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by redesignating sub- 15 paragraph (D) as subparagraph (E) and by inserting after 16 subparagraph (C) the following new subparagraph: 17 ‘‘(D) SAFE HARBOR FOR ABSENCE OF DE- 18 DUCTIBLE FOR CARE RELATED TO CHRONIC 19 CONDITIONS.—A plan shall not fail to be treat- 20 ed as a high-deductible health plan by reason of 21 failing to have a deductible for care related to 22 the treatment of any chronic condition, as de- 23 termined by the Assistant Secretary for Health 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:57 Jul 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3709.IH H3709 jspears on DSK3GMQ082PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3709 IH of the Department of Health and Human Serv- 1 ices.’’. 2 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 3 this section shall apply to coverage for months beginning 4 after the date of the enactment of this Act. 5 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:57 Jul 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3709.IH H3709 jspears on DSK3GMQ082PROD with BILLS