H-1070              _______________________________________________

                                                   HOUSE BILL NO. 1699

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                               51st Legislature                              1989 Regular Session

By Representatives Leonard, Patrick, Crane, Wolfe, Anderson, Prentice, Moyer, Cooper, Zellinsky, Padden, P. King, Bowman, Ferguson, Pruitt, Youngsman, Betrozoff and Haugen

Read first time 2/3/89 and referred to Committee on Health Care.

AN ACT Relating to consumers' choice of pharmacies; adding a new section to chapter 48.42 RCW; creating a new section; prescribing penalties; and declaring an emergency.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.     The legislature finds that many health care insurance policies that include prescription coverage severely restrict the choice of available pharmacies.  The legislature further finds that such restrictions infringe upon consumers' freedom to have prescriptions filled at the pharmacy of their choice.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.  A new section is added to chapter 48.42 RCW to read as follows:

          (1) A third-party payor for pharmaceutical services within the state of Washington may not require a pharmacy patient to obtain prescription drugs from a designated pharmacy as a condition to obtaining third-party payment for those prescription drugs.

          (2) This section does not prohibit any third-party payor of pharmaceutical services, who provides for reimbursement to the pharmacy patient or payment on his or her behalf, from limiting the amount reimbursed for the cost of prescription drugs to the cost of identical prescription drugs available through a designated pharmacy.  For the purposes of this subsection, each third-party payor of pharmaceutical services shall identify as a part of the third-party agreement or contract the designated pharmacy which shall be used as the baseline comparison.

          (3) Nothing in this section limits the ability of an entity operating a closed system health maintenance organization to maintain pharmacy arrangements on an exclusive basis according to their contractual arrangements and obligations.

          (4) A violation of this section is a misdemeanor.  Each violation constitutes a separate offense.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3.     This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and shall take effect immediately.