Library / Laws / 113th / hr / H.R. 460 / Introduced in House
I
113th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 460
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 4, 2013
Mr. McKinley (for
himself, Mrs. Capps,
Mrs. Capito,
Mr. Young of Florida,
Mr. Moran,
Mr. Wolf, Mr. Tonko, Mr.
Runyan, Mr. Conyers,
Ms. Bonamici,
Mr. Cicilline,
Mr. DeFazio,
Mr. Michaud,
Mr. Farr, Ms. Pingree of Maine,
Mr. Rangel, and
Mr. Crenshaw) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee
on Energy and Commerce
A BILL
To amend title XXVII of the Public Health Service Act to
limit co-payment, coinsurance, or other cost-sharing requirements applicable to
prescription drugs in a specialty drug tier to the dollar amount (or its
equivalent) of such requirements applicable to prescription drugs in a
non-preferred brand drug tier, and for other purposes.
1.
Short title
This Act may be cited as the
Patients’ Access to Treatments Act of
2013.
2.
Cost-sharing
requirements applicable to prescription drugs in a specialty drug tier
(a)
In
general
Subpart II of part A
of title XXVII of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300gg et seq.) is
amended by adding at the end the following:
2719B.
Cost-sharing
requirements applicable to prescription drugs in a specialty drug tier
(a)
Requirement
A
group health plan, or a health insurance issuer offering group or individual
health insurance, that provides coverage for prescription drugs and uses a
formulary or other tiered cost-sharing structure shall not impose cost-sharing
requirements applicable to prescription drugs in a specialty drug tier that
exceed the dollar amount (or its equivalent) of cost-sharing requirements
applicable to prescription drugs in a non-preferred brand drug tier (or
prescription drugs in a brand drug tier if there is no non-preferred brand drug
tier).
(b)
Special
rule
If a formulary used by a group health plan or a health
insurance issuer offering group or individual health insurance contains more
than one non-preferred brand drug tier, then the requirements of subsection (a)
shall be applied with respect to the non-preferred brand drug tier for which
beneficiary cost-sharing is lowest.
(c)
Definitions
In this section:
(1) The term
cost-sharing includes co-payment and coinsurance.
(2) The term
drug tier means, with respect to a group health plan or health
insurance issuer offering group or individual health insurance coverage that
uses a formulary or other cost-sharing structure, a category of drugs—
(A) within such
formulary or structure for which the total dollar amount of cost-sharing
requirements for any drug does not vary by more than ten percent from the total
dollar amount of cost-sharing requirements for any other drug; and
(B) that are
prescription drugs.
(3) The term
non-preferred brand drug tier means, with respect to a group
health plan or health insurance issuer offering group or individual health
insurance coverage that uses a formulary or other tiered cost-sharing
structure, a category of drugs—
(A) within a drug tier in such formulary or
structure for which beneficiary cost-sharing is greater than drug tiers for
generic drugs or preferred brand drugs in the formulary or structure;
(B) that are
prescription drugs; and
(C) that are not
included within a specialty drug tier.
(4) The term
prescription drug means—
(A) a drug subject to
section 503(b)(1) of the Federal Food, Drug, or Cosmetic Act; and
(B) includes a drug
described in subparagraph (A) that is a biological product (as defined in
section 351(i) of this Act).
(5) The term
specialty drug tier means, with respect to a group health plan or
health insurance issuer offering group or individual health insurance coverage
that uses a formulary or other tiered cost-sharing structure, a category of
drugs—
(A) within a drug tier in such formulary or
structure for which beneficiary cost-sharing is greater than drug tiers for
generic drugs, preferred brand drugs, or non-preferred drugs in the plan’s
formulary; and
(B) that are
prescription
drugs.
.
(b)
Effective
date
Section 2719B of the Public Health Service Act, as added by
subsection (a), applies to plan years beginning on or after the date of the
enactment of this Act.