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Insurance

P Passed

P HB21
Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Act; notification of possible beneficiaries. Limits the type of insurance companies required to notify possible beneficiaries under the Act to those providing medical malpractice liability insurance.
Patron - Woodrum

P HB44
Insurance; investments by domestic insurers. Eliminates the restriction that allows domestic insurers to invest in the capital stock of only those banks or trust companies that earned a minimum rate of return.
Patron - Woodrum

P HB165
Accident and sickness insurance; coverage for hospitalization and anesthesia for dental procedures. Requires health insurers, health maintenance organizations and corporations providing accident and sickness subscription contracts to provide coverage for general anesthesia and hospitalization or facilities charges of a licensed outpatient surgery facility for dental care provided to a covered person who is determined by a licensed dentist in consultation with the covered person's treating physician to require general anesthesia and admission to a hospital or outpatient surgery facility to effectively and safely provide dental care and (i) is under the age of five, (ii) is severely disabled, or (iii) has a medical condition and requires admission to a hospital or outpatient surgery facility and general anesthesia for dental care treatment. Such insurers, corporations or organizations (i) may require prior authorization for this benefit in the same manner as is required for other covered benefits and (ii) shall restrict coverage for general anesthesia expenses and for facility charges to the appropriate licensed providers.
Patron - Shuler

P HB398
Virginia Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Act. Clarifies that only parties to litigation who are either participating hospitals or physicians under the Virginia Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Act may move the court to refer the action to the Workers' Compensation Commission for the purpose of determining whether the requirements of the Act are satisfied. The bill also requires that a motion to refer the action to the Commission be filed no later than 120 days after the date the party seeking the referral filed its grounds of defense. The bill specifies what constitutes a petition and certain filing and administrative requirements. The bill provides that the definition of participating physician includes a partnership, corporation, professional corporation, professional limited liability company or other entity through which the physician practices. The bill has an emergency clause.
Patron - Woodrum

P HB453
Insurance; notice of exclusion of coverage for flood damage. Requires every insurer issuing a fire insurance policy or contract that excludes coverage for flood damage to provide written notice explicitly stating that flood damage coverage is excluded, and that information regarding flood insurance is available from the insurance agent or the National Flood Insurance Program.
Patron - Cantor

P HB455
Insurance agents; continuing education requirements. Eliminates the current requirement that nonresident agents who fail to comply with Virginia's continuing education requirements must complete Virginia's pre-licensing education and examination requirements prior to regaining their licenses. Such nonresident agents will continue to have their licenses terminated and will continue to have to wait 90 days or pay a $1,000 administrative penalty before regaining their license. The waiver of the pre-licensing education and examination requirements for terminated non-resident agents will apply if they are licensed in states that either have a continuing education requirement or have reciprocal provisions for Virginia resident agents. The bill also allows any resident agent who is age 65 or older with 20 or more years of continuous licensure in any state to apply for a permanent exemption from the continuing education requirements if he has held a Virginia resident license for at least four continuous years by the end of the biennium. Currently, the exemption for agents age 65 with 20 continuous years of licensure applies only to agents who have had a Virginia license for 20 years. Finally, the bill clarifies several provisions pursuant to which the insurance continuing education board may grant waivers from the continuing education requirements imposed on insurance agents.
Patron - Cantor

P HB494
Health plans sponsored by community action agency. Excludes from insurance regulations a health care services plan which was sponsored by a private non-profit agency organized in 1965. The measure expires July 1, 2001. The measure has an emergency clause.
Patron - Woodrum

P HB574
Insurance; child health supervision services. Exempts short-term policies from the mandate that health insurance policies, health services plans and health care plans offer child health supervision services.
Patron - Bryant

P HB660
Health insurance; access to ambulance services. Prohibits health insurers, health maintenance organizations and corporations providing accident and sickness subscription contracts from requiring a person covered under such policy, contract or plan to obtain prior authorization before accessing an emergency 911 system or other state, county or municipal emergency medical system for ambulance services, and from establishing an emergency medical response and transportation system in competition with a governmental 911 or other emergency system.
Patron - Grayson

P HB716
Credit property and credit involuntary unemployment insurance. Provides for the regulation of credit property insurance as a separate line of insurance, and expands credit involuntary unemployment insurance (IUI) to allow coverage for debtors placed on an unpaid leave of absence. Credit property insurance is insurance against direct physical damage to personal household property (other than motor vehicles, mobile homes, and watercraft) used as collateral in a credit transaction. Provisions applicable to credit IUI are generally made applicable to credit property insurance. Forms for both types of insurance must provide for the refund of unearned premiums on a pro rata basis if the insurance is terminated prior to the scheduled maturity date of the indebtedness. The Bureau of Insurance is given jurisdiction over insurance certificates for credit property insurance and credit IUI delivered or issued for delivery in Virginia where the group policy is delivered in another state. The rates for credit property insurance and credit IUI are made subject to the "prior approval" provisions, rather than the "file and use" provisions. Minimum loss ratios are established for credit property insurance and credit IUI rates to start at 40 percent in January 1, 2001, and increase to 45 percent on January 1, 2003, and 50 percent on January 1, 2005.
Patron - Woodrum

P HB726
Managed care health insurance plans; Office of Managed Care Ombudsman; External Review Process. Clarifies provisions of the 1999 omnibus health insurance legislation regarding the Managed Care Ombudsman and the external review process. The amendments make clear that legislation created an Office of Managed Care Ombudsman, rather than a single position. Other amendments regarding the External Review Process (i) establish the threshold for the External Review Process at $300 in out-of-pocket costs to the covered person if the adverse decision is not reversed; (ii) increase to 30 days the time period for the external reviewer to complete its review; (iii) increase the other time periods for actions by the parties related to the review and the Bureau; (iv) make a utilization review entity's failure to comply with the Commissioner's written ruling subject to sanctions as a knowing and willful violation of the statute; (v) provide that fees paid by utilization review entities are paid to the Bureau's maintenance fund; (vi) establishes sanctions against utilization review entities who fail to pay the fee within a reasonable time; (vii) provide that, before entering in to contracts with an impartial health entity to conduct external reviews, the Bureau shall determine that the entity possesses the necessary credentials and is otherwise qualified to conduct the review; (viii) limits access to the external review process to individuals covered under a contract issued in this Commonwealth; and (ix) clarify that the Commissioner of Insurance is to affirm recommendations of the independent review entity unless they are arbitrary, capricious or beyond the review entity's authority. The bill also makes a number of housekeeping amendments to other provisions of the 1999 legislation.
Patron - Rust

P HB756
Insurance; change to domestic insurer. Requires that any insurer domiciled in another state that becomes a domestic insurer shall be recognized as an insurer initially licensed, in another jurisdiction, as of the date it was first licensed as an insurer in the state of its original domicile.
Patron - Howell

P HB762
Insurance; confidentiality of information provided to SCC. Excludes from subpoena or public inspection any confidential proprietary information of an insurer provided to the State Corporation Commission provided that the insurer (i) invokes such exclusion upon submission of the information for which protection from disclosure is sought, (ii) identifies the information for which protection is sought, and (iii) states the reason protection is necessary. The Commission may use the information in furtherance of regulatory or legal action and may publish aggregate findings, but may not disclose the confidential proprietary information without notice and an opportunity for hearing. Disclosure of the information to the SCC shall not cause a waiver of an existing privilege or claim of confidentiality.
Patron - Morgan

P HB835
Dental and optometric insurance; nonstock corporations. Eliminates the requirement that a nonstock corporation administering a dental or optometric plan be an agent for the participating dentists and optometrists. A change in a nonstock corporation's agent status must be approved by the State Corporation Commission after review of the corporation's financial condition and method of doing business. Nonstock corporations not acting as agents for dentists and optometrists must keep a contingency reserve of no less than the amount required for 45 days of operating expenses.
Patron - Woodrum

P HB854
Insurance; electronic notice of cancellation to lienholder. Permits insurers of motor vehicle, homeowner's and liability insurance policies required to transmit a notice of cancellation to a lienholder to transmit such notice electronically, provided that the insurer and the lienholder agree by separate agreement upon the specifics for transmittal and acknowledgement of notification.
Patron - May

P HB914
Health care coverage; childhood immunizations. Requires health insurers, health maintenance organizations and corporations providing health care coverage subscription contracts to provide coverage for childhood immunizations, subject to any co-payment or co-insurance requirements under the policy. The required benefits apply to children from birth to 36 months of age and extend to all routine and necessary immunizations, defined as diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, polio, hepatitis B, measles, mumps, rubella, and such other immunizations as may be prescribed by the Commissioner of Health. This mandate does not apply if the insured has elected to obtain coverage for child health supervision services, without any co-payment or co-insurance being required, under the existing mandate to offer such coverage.
Patron - Bryant

P HB923
Long-term care insurance; refund of unearned premiums. Requires individual long-term care insurance policies and certificates to return unearned premiums on a pro-rata basis to insureds in the event of cancellation by the carrier or the insured. The measure does not apply to single-premium policies.
Patron - Watts

P HB940
Life insurance; educational loans. Authorizes life insurance policies to include educational loan provisions as additional benefits, where the loan applicant is a covered individual under the insurance policy and the loan provides funds for the individual or his dependent to attend an institution of higher education, trade school, or technical school.
Patron - Bryant

P HB1014
Health insurance portability; eligibility for Medicare risk plans and preexisting conditions. Exempts Medicare risk plans receiving compensation from Medicare from the requirements of including certain questions on applications to determine eligibility of the applicant. The preexisting condition limitation period for late health plan enrollees is changed from 18 months to 12 months, reflecting the same period that applies to all other enrollees.
Patron - Morgan

P HB1111
Prescription drug formularies. Requires an insurer, corporation, or health maintenance organization that maintains one or more closed drug formularies to establish a process to allow an enrollee to obtain, without additional cost-sharing beyond that provided for formulary prescription drugs in the enrollee's covered benefits, a specific, medically necessary nonformulary prescription drug when the enrollee has been receiving the specific nonformulary prescription drug for at least six months previous to the development or revision of the formulary and the prescribing physician has determined that the formulary drug is an inappropriate therapy for the specific patient or that changing drug therapy presents a significant health risk to the specific patient. After reasonable investigation and consultation with the prescribing physician, the insurer, corporation or health maintenance organization shall act on such requests within one business day of receipt of the request. Substituting an approved generic drug for its branded equivalent does not constitute a change in drug therapy.
Patron - Tate

P HB1176
Standardized prescription benefits cards. Requires the state employee's health insurance plan, the Virginia Medicaid program, and each health insurer, corporation providing individual or group accident and sickness subscription contracts, and health maintenance organization providing coverage for prescription drugs, to issue a standardized prescription benefits card. The standardized prescription benefits identification card must comply with the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs (NCPDP) standards as set forth in the NCPDP Pharmacy ID Card Implementation Guide. The standardized prescription benefits identification card must be capable of accommodating the mandatory and situational data elements included in the NCPDP Pharmacy ID Card Implementation Guide and must be issued to each new covered person and reissued upon changes in coverage that affect the data elements on the card. Contracts, policies or plans delivered, issued for delivery or renewed in this Commonwealth on and after July 1, 2002, must comply with this requirement. The bill will become effective if reenacted by the 2001 Session of the General Assembly.
Patron - Reid

P HB1211
Health maintenance organizations; exception to licensing requirement. Exempts an HMO licensed in a state contiguous to Virginia from the requirement that it be licensed in Virginia if (i) the HMO contracts on a limited basis with health care providers in Virginia for the provision of services to enrollees under contracts not delivered or issued for delivery in Virginia, if the number of Virginia residents receiving such services does not exceed 500 enrollees of the HMO, and the contracts with the providers include a hold harmless clause.
Patron - Cantor

P HB1236
Refunds of unearned health insurance premiums. Requires individual accident and health insurance policies to contain a provision authorizing the insured to cancel the policy at any time and requiring the insurer to promptly return the unearned portion of the premium, calculated pro rata. The provisions giving an insured a cancellation option and the right to a refund of unearned premium are made applicable to health services plans and health maintenance organizations. The measure is effective January 1, 2001.
Patron - Scott

P HB1266
Health insurance; EDI standards for uniform referral form. Requires the State Corporation Commission to adopt a uniform referral form for any managed care health insurance plan. The form shall incorporate the data elements adopted by the Health Care Financing Authority for its Electronic Data Interchange standards.
Patron - Rust

P HB1366
Health insurance; provider panels. Mandates that provider panel contracts must permit the provider to refuse to participate in one or more of the other provider panels when contracts are executed. This measure applies to contracts that require the provider, as a condition of participating in one of the provider panels, to participate in any other provider panel. The refusal to participate shall not affect the provider's ability to serve on new or existing panels. The prohibition does not apply to participants in the state Medicaid plan.
Patron - Griffith

P HB1376
Accident and sickness insurance; diabetes coverage. Clarifies several provisions of the mandated benefit for coverage of diabetes. The bill prohibits carriers from categorizing supplies for diabetes treatment as durable medical equipment, ensuring that such supplies are not subject to the dollar limits applicable generally to durable medical equipment. Other provisions (i) allow managed care health insurance plans to require the health care professional providing diabetes outpatient self-management training and education to be a member of the plan's provider network if the network includes sufficient health care professionals who are qualified by specific education, experience, and credentials to provide the covered benefits; (ii) require the covered benefit for outpatient self-management training and education to be performed in-person; and (iii) prohibit carriers from imposing policy or calendar year dollar or durational benefit limitations or maximums for the diabetes benefits or services provided.
Patron - Armstrong

P HB1497
Accident and sickness insurance; notice of priority of benefits. Requires accident and sickness insurers, corporations providing individual or group accident and sickness subscription contracts, and health maintenance organizations to provide written notification to the insured, subscriber or member, as a prominent part of its enrollment materials, that if such person is covered under another group policy, contract or plan, that policy, contract or plan may have primary responsibility for the covered expenses of other family members enrolled with the insured, subscriber or member. The notice shall describe the conditions under which coverage would be primary for dependant children, and the method for verifying which coverage would have primary responsibility. A similar requirement is established by this bill with respect to the health insurance plan for state employees.
Patron - Devolites

P HB1511
Long-term care insurance. Establishes limits on periods for contestability of long-term care insurance policies. Each long-term care policy is required to include an incontestability provision providing that a policy may be rescinded or a claim denied: (i) during the six months following issuance, upon a showing of misrepresentation that is material to the acceptance of coverage; (ii) between six months and two years following issuance, upon a showing of misrepresentation that is both material to the acceptance of coverage and that pertains to the condition for which benefits are sought; and (iii) after two years, only upon a showing that the insured knowingly and intentionally misrepresented relevant facts relating to the insured's health. The bill also (i) requires that policyholders be offered the option of purchasing a policy containing a nonforfeiture benefit; (ii) authorizes the State Corporation Commission to issue regulations regarding long-term care insurance policies and certificates; (iii) prohibits the marketing of a long-term care insurance policy or certificate as a qualified long-term care insurance policy or federally tax-qualified long-term care insurance contract unless the policy or contract contains a statement prominently disclosing that such policy or certificate is a qualified long-term care insurance policy or federally tax-qualified long-term care insurance contract; (iv) prohibits the field issuance of such policies by an agent or third-party administrator; and (v) prohibits such policies from providing that an insurer who has paid benefits may recover the benefit payments in the event that the policy is rescinded. The Joint Commission on Health Care and Bureau of Insurance are required to conduct a study of the NAIC's efforts in the area of reporting requirements and comparative disclosure for long-term care insurance policies in other states. The provision regarding nonforfeiture benefits will take effect on January 1, 2001, or 60 days following the adoption of regulations by the SCC, whichever first occurs.
Patron - Morgan

P SB26
Colorectal cancer screening. Requires health insurers, health maintenance organizations, corporation providing health care coverage subscription contracts, the state employees health insurance program, and the Virginia Medicaid program to provide coverage for colorectal cancer screening. The coverage must be provided in accordance with the most recently published recommendations established by the American College of Gastroenterology, in consultation with the American Cancer Society, for the ages, family histories, and frequencies referenced in such recommendations. The coverage cannot be more restrictive than or separate from coverage in any policy, contract or plan that is provided for any other illness, condition or disorder.
Patron - Couric

P SB52
Insurers; accounting practices and procedures. Incorporates by reference various guidances set forth in the accounting practices and procedures manuals of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). The NAIC recently adopted Statements of Statutory Accounting Practices (SSAPs) that will be the basis of new accounting guidance that will become effective for statements and disclosures filed after January 1, 2001, which is the effective date of this legislation. Existing provisions regarding the valuation of bonds, securities, and real estate, leaseholds and mortgages are repealed. References to the guidance set forth in the NAIC accounting practices and procedures manuals are substituted for current provisions for identifying assets that are not admitted for purposes of determining an insurer's financial condition.
Patron - Stosch

P SB54
Risk-based capital act; health organizations. Applies the Risk-Based Capital (RBC) Act to health maintenance organizations, health services plans, and dental or optometric services plans. From July 1, 2000, until January 1, 2001, the monitoring provisions of the RBC Act will apply to HMOs. Effective January 1, 2001, these health organizations operating in Virginia will be subject to the RBC Act. Numerous changes to the RBC Act reflect its applicability to all licensees, rather than only to insurers. The risk-based capital of health organizations will be determined in accordance with the formula set forth in instructions adopted by the NAIC. The SCC may exempt from the RBC Act a domestic health organization that writes direct business only in Virginia and assumes no reinsurance in excess of five percent of direct premium written, and writes direct annual premiums of $2 million or less for comprehensive medical coverages or is a dental or optometric services plan that covers fewer than 2,000 lives.
Patron - Stosch

P SB73
Health maintenance organizations. Codifies certain provisions of the rules governing HMOs promulgated by the SCC. Provisions require (i) applicants for an HMO license to provide a financial feasibility plan and a financial statement, (ii) annual and quarterly statements to include a statement of covered and uncovered expenses, and (iii) the initial deposit prior to licensure of an amount not less than $300,000 which may be reduced for an HMO with operating profits for the two most recent years. The bill also clarifies the policies and procedures for using deposited amounts.
Patron - Colgan

P SB78
Insurance; technical amendments. Corrects erroneous cross-references and uses of terminology in several provisions of the insurance laws.
Patron - Holland

P SB79
Payment of attorney's fees; health services plans, health maintenance organizations, legal services plans, and dental and optometric plans. Subjects health services plans, health maintenance organizations, legal services plans, and dental and optometric plans to payment of the reasonable attorney's fees of insured individuals in civil suits to determine the extent of coverage, if a court determines that such an entity did not act in good faith in denying coverage or failing or refusing to make payment under a policy.
Patron - Holland

P SB206
Reinsurance agreements. Requires a domestic insurer to obtain written approval from the State Corporation Commission prior to entering into or modifying any reinsurance treaty or risk-sharing arrangement if in any 12-month period the reinsurance premium or the anticipated change in the insurer's liabilities exceeds 50 percent of the insurer's surplus to the policyholders as of the preceding December 31. Failure to obtain such approval is punishable as a Class 1 misdemeanor.
Patron - Wampler

P SB221
Health care coverage; childhood immunizations. Requires health insurers, health maintenance organizations (HMOs) and corporations providing health care coverage subscription contracts to provide coverage for childhood immunizations, subject to any co-payment or co-insurance requirements under the policy. The required benefits apply to children from birth to 36 months of age and extend to all routine and necessary immunizations, including diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, polio, hepatitis B, measles, mumps, rubella, and other such immunizations as may be prescribed by the Commissioner of Health. The mandate does not apply if the insured has elected to obtain coverage for child health supervision services, without any co-payment or co-insurance being required, under the existing mandate to offer such coverage.
Patron - Edwards

P SB230
Fire Programs Fund. Clarifies the language establishing the Fire Programs Fund, which is a special nonreverting fund in the state treasury financed by an assessment on insurance companies that write fire, miscellaneous property, marine, homeowners or farmowners insurance. The bill ensures that interest earned on money in the Fund, including interest earned on any assessments held by the SCC but not yet deposited into the Fund, will be credited to the Fund.
Patron - Watkins

P SB274
Accident and sickness insurance; diabetes coverage. Clarifies several provisions of the mandated benefit for coverage of diabetes. The bill prohibits carriers from categorizing supplies for diabetes treatment as durable medical equipment, ensuring that such supplies are not subject to the dollar limits applicable generally to durable medical equipment. Other provisions (i) allow managed care health insurance plans to require the health care professional providing diabetes outpatient self-management training and education to be a member of the plan's provider network if the network includes sufficient health care professionals who are qualified by specific education, experience, and credentials to provide the covered benefits; (ii) require the covered benefit for outpatient self-management training and education to be performed in-person; and (iii) prohibit carriers from imposing policy or calendar year dollar or durational benefit limitations or maximums for the diabetes benefits or services provided.
Patron - Howell

P SB284
Health insurance; prescription drug coverage. Prohibits carriers from excluding any drug from coverage solely on the basis of the length of time since the drug obtained FDA approval.
Patron - Couric

P SB304
Life insurance; notification of revocation by divorce. Requires that any life insurance or annuity contract, containing a beneficiary designation in which the designated beneficiary is the spouse of the policy owner, contain language explaining that Virginia law revokes the spouse as beneficiary upon divorce and how to avoid such a revocation.
Patron - Reynolds

P SB358
Health insurance; mental health coverage. Clarifies that the 1999 legislation requiring the state health care plans, health insurers, health services plans and health maintenance organizations to provide coverage for biologically based mental illness applies to policies, contracts, and plans delivered, issued for delivery, reissued or extended, or to which a term is changed or the premium is adjusted, on or after January 1, 2000, which is the effective date of the requirement. The change ensures that the requirement is not made retroactively applicable to policies, contracts, and plans in effect on the legislation's effective date. Amendments also clarify that the mandated coverage does not apply to individual policies.
Patron - Houck

P SB455
Health insurance for small employers; bona fide associations. Exempts health insurance issuers that offer health insurance coverage in a small employer market from requirements that (i) coverage be offered and made available to all eligible employees of every small employer and their dependents that apply for the coverage; and (ii) all products that the issuer is actively marketing be offered to all small employers unless the coverage or product is made available in the small group market only through one or more bona fide associations. A bona fide association is an association which (i) has been actively in existence for at least five years; (ii) has been formed and maintained in good faith for purposes other than obtaining insurance; (iii) does not condition membership in the association on any health status-related factor relating to an individual (including an employee of an employer or a dependent of an employee); (iv) makes health insurance coverage offered through the association available to all members regardless of any health status-related factor relating to such members (or individuals eligible for coverage through a member); (v) does not make health insurance coverage offered through the association available other than in connection with a member of the association; and (vi) meets other requirements imposed by law.
Patron - Saslaw

P SB456
Cancellation of insurance policies. Repeals the right of an individual who purchases insurance from a lending institution, bank holding company, savings institution holding company, or subsidiary or affiliate to cancel the insurance within 10 days following its purchase. Upon cancellation, the individual is currently entitled to receive a pro rata refund of the premium. The bill also prohibits lenders from conditioning the availability of credit upon the purchase of insurance from such lender.
Patron - Saslaw

P SB541
Accident and sickness insurance; coverage for the treatment of morbid obesity. Requires health insurers, health maintenance organizations and corporations providing accident and sickness subscription contracts to offer coverage for the treatment of morbid obesity through gastric bypass surgery or such other methods as may be recognized by the National Institutes of Health as effective for the long-term reversal of morbid obesity. The state employee's health insurance plan is required to offer the same coverage.
Patron - Lambert

P SB587
Insurance rate and form regulation; exempting large commercial risks. Provides an exemption for insurers of large commercial risks from State Corporation Commission approval of policy forms and endorsements. A large commercial risk must employ a full-time risk manager and meet certain revenue and employment requirements for the exemption to apply. The exemption does not apply to rates and forms for workers' compensation, professional liability and commercial automobile policies.
Patron - Norment

P SB593
Dental and optometric insurance; nonstock corporations. Eliminates the requirement that a nonstock corporation administering a dental or optometric plan be an agent for the participating dentists and optometrists. A change in a nonstock corporation's agent status must be approved by the State Corporation Commission after review of the corporation's financial condition and method of doing business. Nonstock corporations not acting as agents for dentists and optometrists must keep a contingency reserve of no less than the amount required for 45 days of operating expenses.
Patron - Norment

P SB718
Health insurance; provider panels. Mandates that provider panel contracts must permit the provider to refuse to participate in one or more of the other provider panels when contracts are executed. This measure applies to contracts that require the provider, as a condition of participating in one of the provider panels, to participate in any other provider panel. The refusal to participate shall not affect the provider's ability to serve on new or existing panels. The prohibition does not apply to participants in the state Medicaid plan.
Patron - Colgan

P SB759
Virginia Life, Accident and Sickness Insurance Guaranty Association; structured settlement annuities. Provides that the Life, Accident and Sickness Insurance Guaranty Association will provide coverage for structured settlement annuities based on the residence of the injured person receiving payments under the annuity.
Patron - Newman

F Failed

F HB549
Motor vehicles; liability insurance. Raises from $20,000 to $25,000 the minimum amount of motor vehicle liability insurance required to cover damage to property. The bill is effective January 1, 2001.
Patron - Phillips

F HB554
Health care coverage; hearing aids. Requires health insurers, health maintenance organizations and corporations providing health care coverage subscription contracts to provide coverage for treatment of hearing loss and impairment, including hearing aids.
Patron - Kilgore

F HB653
Accident and sickness insurance; coverage for EEG biofeedback. Requires health insurers, health care subscription plans and health maintenance organizations to provide coverage for training and education in the use of EEG biofeedback equipment and techniques. EEG biofeedback is defined as electroencephalogram biofeedback or neurofeedback prescribed as a treatment for attention deficit disorder, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, depression, stress-related and anxiety disorders, Tourette's Syndrome, insomnia, migraine headaches or epilepsy. The EEG biofeedback training and education must be prescribed and provided by a licensed health care professional. The bill's provisions are applicable to policies and plans issued on and after July 1, 2000.
Patron - Diamonstein

F HB915
Managed care health insurance plans; freedom of choice. Requires carriers offering preferred provider contracts, corporations offering subscription contracts, and health maintenance organizations, that operate a managed care health insurance plan (MCHIP), to allow covered persons to choose their health care services provider. This right of choice extends to any provider that is not a member of the MCHIP's provider panel if the provider has previously notified the carrier of its agreement to accept, as payment in full, the reimbursement for health care services at the rates applicable to providers that are members of the MCHIP's provider panel. In addition, if the carrier requests in writing, an outside provider must execute the form of contract or agreement that the carrier requires all of the members of its provider panel to execute. Such agreement or contract must be signed by the outside provider within 30 days of the provider's receipt of the carrier's request. The bill prohibits reduced or disparate coverage and the imposition of monetary penalties if individuals receive their health care services from an outside provider. The bill also bars carriers from (i) denying immediate access to electronic claims filing to an outside provider that has executed the carrier's provider panel contract or agreement and (ii) requiring a covered person to make payment at point of service unless members of the MCHIP's provider panel are subject to the same requirement. A similar freedom to choose provision is added to the state employee's health insurance plan. The existing provision requiring HMO plans to offer optional point of service coverage is repealed.
Patron - Cranwell

F HB1050
Accident and sickness insurance; health services plans, licensed pharmacists. Requires health insurers and health service plan providers, whose policies or contracts cover services that may be provided by licensed pharmacists, to provide equal coverage for such services when provided by licensed pharmacists.
Patron - Cantor

F HB1237
Motor vehicle insurance; cancellation of registration upon cancellation of insurance. Requires insurance companies to notify the former insured and the Department of Motor Vehicles when a motor vehicle liability insurance policy has been cancelled. The DMV is required to cancel the motor vehicle's registration 30 days after receipt of the notice unless the owner has either produced evidence of required insurance or has paid the fee required for registration of an uninsured motor vehicle and has furnished proof of financial responsibility.
Patron - Scott

F HB1284
Health insurance; health services plans, marriage and family therapists. Requires health insurers and health service plan providers, whose policies or contracts cover services that may be provided by marriage and family therapists, to provide equal coverage for such services when provided by marriage and family therapists.
Patron - Shuler

F HB1415
Insurance agents. Requires licensed insurers to accept and honor requests by policyholders for a change of agent of record if the agent is duly licensed with and appointed by the insurer. The change must be made within 30 business days following the insurer's receipt of the request.
Patron - Katzen

F HB1425
Health care coverage networks; any willing provider; hospitals. Requires health care insurers, corporations providing accident and sickness subscription contracts, and health maintenance organizations to accept any hospital as a preferred or participating provider if it is willing to accept the same terms and conditions of network inclusion applicable to other hospitals accepted as network providers.
Patron - Griffith

F SB165
Health care coverage for biologically based mental illness; speech, occupational, physical and related therapies. Requires the state employees' health plan, health insurers, health maintenance organizations (HMOs) and corporations providing health care coverage subscription contracts to provide coverage for speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy and related therapies for the treatment of biologically based mental illness.
Patron - Edwards

F SB272
Health care coverage; hearing aids. Requires health insurers, health maintenance organizations and corporations providing health care coverage subscription contracts to provide coverage for treatment of hearing loss and impairment, including hearing aids.
Patron - Houck

F SB287
Managed care health insurance plans; liability for health care coverage decisions. Provides that health carriers offering managed care health insurance plans have the duty to exercise ordinary care when making decisions regarding the provision of coverage for health care services under the plan. Health carriers are liable for damages arising from injury to or death of a covered person proximately caused by the health carrier's negligence in making any decision that results in a delay in, or denial of, the provision of health care services. The limitations of recovery governing medical malpractice actions and the provisions of Virginia law governing utilization review are not applicable to actions brought pursuant to this bill.
Patron - Edwards

F SB466
Accident and sickness insurance; diabetes coverage. Adds medications approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration to the items covered by the mandated benefit for coverage for diabetes.
Patron - Colgan

F SB480
Local government group self-insurance pools. Expands the definition of "political subdivision" to include any nonprofit organization that provides community service programs and that derives a minimum of 80 percent of its funding from public sources; thereby allowing such organizations to participate in local government group self-insurance pools. This bill has been incorporated into SB 300.
Patron - Trumbo

F SB543
Employers' liability and workers' compensation insurance. Establishes distinct definitions for employers' liability insurance and workers' compensation insurance, and prohibits the State Corporation Commission from approving forms for writing combinations of these classes of insurance. The bill also allows a policy of personal liability insurance to include employers' liability insurance.
Patron - Marye

F SB729
Health care coverage; mental health coverage. Clarifies that the requirement that health insurers, health service plans and health maintenance organizations provide coverage for biologically based mental illness does not apply to individual accident and sickness insurance policies. The bill also provides that the requirement does not apply to policies, contracts, or plans issued to employers with 50 or fewer employees; currently, the exemption applies to employers with 25 or fewer employees.
Patron - Martin

C Carried Over

C HB1151
Accident and sickness insurance; coverage for the treatment of infertility. Requires the state health plan, health insurers, health maintenance organizations and corporations providing accident and sickness subscription contracts to provide coverage for the treatment of infertility. The bill's provisions are applicable to policies, plans and contracts delivered, issued for delivery or renewed on and after July 1, 2000. They are not applicable to short-term travel, accident-only, limited or specified disease policies, or to short-term nonrenewable policies of not more than six months' duration, or to coverage under Medicare.
Patron - Barlow

C HB1208
Managed care health insurance plans. Excludes preferred provider policies or contracts from the definition of a managed care health insurance plan (MCHIP). MCHIPs are required, among other things, to (i) apply to the Department of Health for quality assurance certification; (ii) establish procedures addressing complaint resolution and consumer satisfaction, access, availability, and continuity of care; and (iii) use a system of utilization review standards and an appeal process.
Patron - Cantor

C HB1261
Health coverage for biologically based mental illness; social anxiety disorder. Adds social anxiety disorder to the list of diagnoses included in the definition of biologically based mental illness.
Patron - Darner

C HB1283
Health insurance; discrimination against victims of abuse. Prohibits health carriers from denying, excluding or limiting coverage on the basis of an insured's history of abuse. Health carriers must maintain confidential the insured's personal information relating to abuse, and may only disclose it under certain limited circumstances. It is unfairly discriminatory for a health carrier to request information relating to an applicant's or insured's abuse status, or make use of that information, however obtained, except for the limited purposes of complying with legal obligations or verifying a person's claim to be a subject of abuse. A health carrier that takes an adverse action on the basis of a medical condition that is abuse-related must explain the reason for its action in writing and demonstrate that its action (i) does not have the purpose or effect of treating abuse status as a medical condition or underwriting criterion; (ii) is not based upon any actual or perceived correlation between a medical condition and abuse; (iii) is otherwise permissible by law and applies in the same manner and to the same extent to all applicants and insureds with a similar medical condition without regard to whether the condition or claim is abuse-related; and (iv) except for claim actions, is based on a determination that there is a correlation between the medical condition and a material increase in insurance risk.
Patron - Watts

C SB300
Local government group self-insurance pools. Expands the definition of "political subdivision" to include any nonprofit organization that provides community service programs and that derives a minimum of 80 percent of its funding from public sources; thereby allowing such organizations to participate in local government group self-insurance pools.
Patron - Edwards


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