Affordable Health Care Options Act of 2020

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 3821 To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide more options for affordable health insurance to uninsured Americans. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 21, 2020 Mrs. LOEFFLER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide more options for affordable health insurance to uninsured Americans. 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 ‘‘Affordable Health Care 4 Options Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. SHORT-TERM LIMITED DURATION INSURANCE. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 2791(b) of the Public 7 Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300gg–91(b)) is amended 8 by adding at the end the following: 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:37 Jun 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3821.IS S3821 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 3821 IS ‘‘(6) SHORT-TERM LIMITED DURATION INSUR- 1 ANCE.—The term ‘short-term, limited duration in- 2 surance’ means insurance covering medical care pro- 3 vided pursuant to a contract with an issuer that— 4 ‘‘(A) has an expiration date specified in 5 the contract that is less than 1 year after the 6 original effective date of the contract and, tak- 7 ing into account renewals or extensions, has a 8 duration of no longer than 3 years in total; 9 ‘‘(B) may include a renewal guarantee; and 10 ‘‘(C) with respect to such a contract hav- 11 ing a coverage start date on or after January 12 1, 2019, displays prominently in the contract 13 and in any application materials provided in 14 connection with enrollment in such insurance in 15 at least 14 point type the language in the fol- 16 lowing notice, with any additional information 17 required by applicable State law: ‘This coverage 18 is not required to comply with certain Federal 19 market requirements for health insurance, prin- 20 cipally those contained in the Affordable Care 21 Act. Be sure to check your policy carefully to 22 make sure you are aware of any exclusions or 23 limitations regarding coverage of preexisting 24 conditions or health benefits (such as hos- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:37 Jun 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3821.IS S3821 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 3821 IS pitalization, emergency services, maternity care, 1 preventive care, prescription drugs, and mental 2 health and substance use disorder services). 3 Your policy might also have lifetime or annual 4 dollar limits on health benefits. If this coverage 5 expires or you lose eligibility for this coverage, 6 you might have to wait until an open enroll- 7 ment period to get other health insurance cov- 8 erage.’. 9 ‘‘(7) RENEWAL GUARANTEE.—The term ‘re- 10 newal guarantee’, with respect to short-term limited 11 duration insurance, means a provision in the con- 12 tract that permits a policyholder, when purchasing 13 the initial insurance contract, to pay an additional 14 amount for a guarantee that the policyholder can 15 elect to purchase, for periods of time following expi- 16 ration of the initial contract, another policy or poli- 17 cies at some future date, at a specific premium that 18 would not reflect any additional underwriting.’’. 19 (b) TREATMENT OF SHORT-TERM LIMITED DURA- 20 TION INSURANCE AS EXCEPTED BENEFIT.—Section 21 2791(c)(1) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 22 300gg–91(c)(1)) is amended— 23 (1) by redesignating subparagraph (H) as sub- 24 paragraph (I); and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:37 Jun 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3821.IS S3821 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 3821 IS (2) by inserting after subparagraph (G) the fol- 1 lowing: 2 ‘‘(H) Short-term limited duration insur- 3 ance.’’. 4 (c) SHORT-TERM HEALTH INSURANCE OPTIONS.— 5 Part C of title XXVII of the Public Health Service Act 6 (42 U.S.C. 300gg–91 et seq.) is amended— 7 (1) by redesignating section 2794 (42 U.S.C. 8 300gg–95) (regarding uniform fraud and abuse re- 9 ferral format), as added by section 6603 of the Pa- 10 tient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Public 11 Law 111–148), as section 2795; and 12 (2) by adding at the end the following: 13 ‘‘SEC. 2796. SHORT-TERM HEALTH INSURANCE OPTIONS. 14 ‘‘Nothing in this title shall be construed to restrict 15 individuals from purchasing insurance covering medical 16 care, including short-term limited-duration insurance, that 17 features renewal guarantees, as defined in section 18 2791(b)(6).’’. 19 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:37 Jun 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S3821.IS S3821 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS