H.R. 1253 (111th): Health Insurance Restrictions and Limitations Clarification Act of 2009

Introduced:
Mar 03, 2009 (111th Congress, 2009–2010)
Sponsor:
Rep. Michael Burgess [R-TX26]
Status:
Died (Passed House)

The bill’s title was written by the bill’s sponsor. H.R. stands for House of Representatives bill.

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Status

This bill was introduced in a previous session of Congress and was passed by the House on March 31, 2009 but was never passed by the Senate.

Progress
Introduced Mar 03, 2009
Referred to Committee Mar 03, 2009
Reported by Committee Mar 03, 2009
Referred to Committee Mar 04, 2009
Reported by Committee Mar 04, 2009
Passed House Mar 31, 2009
Reported by Committee Apr 29, 2009
Votes

House Vote on Passage
Mar 31, 2009 3:04 p.m.
Passed 422/3

Cosponsors
1 cosponsors (1D) (show)
Committees

House Education and the Workforce

House Energy and Commerce

House Ways and Means

Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

The committee chair determines whether a bill will move past the committee stage.

Full Title

To require that limitations and restrictions on coverage under group health plans be timely disclosed to group health plan sponsors and timely communicated to participants and beneficiaries under such plans in a form that is easily understandable.

Summary

No summaries available.

Text

Read Bill Text »

Last updated Apr 01, 2009.
5 pages

Primary Source

View on THOMAS (The Library of Congress)

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Citation

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GovTrack’s Bill Summary

We don’t have a summary available yet.

Library of Congress Summary

The summary below was written by the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress.

3/31/2009--Passed House without amendment.
(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced.
The summary of that version is repeated here.) Health Insurance Restrictions and Limitations Clarification Act of 2009 - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), the Public Health Service Act, and the Internal Revenue Code to exclude a group health plan from prohibitions against limitations or restrictions on the amount, level, extent, or nature of the benefits of coverage for similarly situated individuals enrolled in the plan so long as:
(1) such limitations and restrictions are explicit and clear;
(2) such limitations and restrictions have been disclosed to the plan sponsor in writing in advance of the point of sale;
(3) the plan sponsor provides a description of such limitations and restrictions to participants and beneficiaries in a form that is easily understandable before enrollment; and
(4) the plan sponsor and the issuer of the coverage provide such description to the participants and beneficiaries upon their enrollment under the plan at the earliest opportunity that other materials are provided.

House Republican Conference Summary

The summary below was written by the House Republican Conference, which is the caucus of Republicans in the House of Representatives.

This summary can be found at http://www.gop.gov/bill/111/1/hr1253.

Background

On September 23, 2008, the House passed a similar bill (H.R. 6908) by voice vote. The Senate never considered the legislation.

Summary

H.R. 1253 would amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the Internal Revenue Code, and the Public Health Service Act to require group health insurance sponsors (i.e. employers) and issuers (i.e. insurance carriers) to disclose plan restrictions and limitations in an easily understandable format prior to enrollment.

Cost

According to the Congressional Budget Office, implementation of H.R. 1253 would have no significant impact on the federal budget. The CBO score also notes that the bill would impose an unfunded mandate on the private sector, by requiring insurers to disclose limitations and restrictions on health insurance coverage; however, CBO does not believe these mandates exceed the thresholds specified in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA).

House Democratic Caucus Summary

The House Democratic Caucus does not provide summaries of bills.

So, yes, we display the House Republican Conference’s summaries when available even if we do not have a Democratic summary available. That’s because we feel it is better to give you as much information as possible, even if we cannot provide every viewpoint.

We’ll be looking for a source of summaries from the other side in the meanwhile.

The bill contains the following citations to other parts of U.S. law:

United States Code

The United States Code is the compilation of permanent laws enacted by Congress. Temporary and other non-permanent laws do not appear in the United States Code. (About half of the United States Code is the law itself, called positive law. The other half is merely a compilation of the laws but has no legal significance.)