AN ACT Relating to the pediatric oral services essential health benefit category; and amending RCW 43.71.065 and 48.43.715.

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

Sec. 1.  RCW 43.71.065 and 2012 c 87 s 8 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) The board shall certify a plan as a qualified health plan to be offered through the exchange if the plan is determined by the:

(a) Insurance commissioner to meet the requirements of Title 48 RCW and rules adopted by the commissioner pursuant to chapter 34.05 RCW to implement the requirements of Title 48 RCW;

(b) Board to meet the requirements of the affordable care act for certification as a qualified health plan; and

(c) Board to include tribal clinics and urban Indian clinics as essential community providers in the plan's provider network consistent with federal law. If consistent with federal law, integrated delivery systems shall be exempt from the requirement to include essential community providers in the provider network.

(2) Consistent with section 1311 of P.L. 111-148 of 2010, as amended, the board shall allow stand-alone dental plans to offer coverage in the exchange beginning January 1, 2014. Dental benefits offered in the exchange ((must))may be offered ((and priced)) separately ((to assure transparency for consumers))or within a qualified health plan.

(3) The board may permit direct primary care medical home plans, consistent with section 1301 of P.L. 111-148 of 2010, as amended, to be offered in the exchange beginning January 1, 2014.

(4) Upon request by the board, a state agency shall provide information to the board for its use in determining if the requirements under subsection (1)(b) or (c) of this section have been met. Unless the agency and the board agree to a later date, the agency shall provide the information within sixty days of the request. The exchange shall reimburse the agency for the cost of compiling and providing the requested information within one hundred eighty days of its receipt.

(5) A decision by the board denying a request to certify or recertify a plan as a qualified health plan may be appealed according to procedures adopted by the board.

Sec. 2.  RCW 48.43.715 and 2013 c 325 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) Consistent with federal law, the commissioner, in consultation with the board and the health care authority, shall, by rule, select the largest small group plan in the state by enrollment as the benchmark plan for the individual and small group market for purposes of establishing the essential health benefits in Washington state under P.L. 111-148 of 2010, as amended.

(2) If the essential health benefits benchmark plan for the individual and small group market does not include all of the ten benefit categories specified by section 1302 of P.L. 111-148, as amended, the commissioner, in consultation with the board and the health care authority, shall, by rule, supplement the benchmark plan benefits as needed to meet the minimum requirements of section 1302.

(3) A health plan required to offer the essential health benefits, other than a health plan offered through the federal basic health program or medicaid, under P.L. 111-148 of 2010, as amended, may not be offered in the state unless the commissioner finds that it is substantially equal to the benchmark plan. When making this determination, the commissioner:

(a) Must ensure that the plan covers the ten essential health benefits categories specified in section 1302 of P.L. 111-148 of 2010, as amended;

(b) May consider whether the health plan has a benefit design that would create a risk of biased selection based on health status and whether the health plan contains meaningful scope and level of benefits in each of the ten essential health benefit categories specified by section 1302 of P.L. 111-148 of 2010, as amended;

(c) Notwithstanding the foregoing, for benefit years beginning January 1, 2015, and only to the extent permitted by federal law and guidance, must establish by rule the review and approval requirements and procedures for pediatric oral services when offered in stand-alone dental plans in the nongrandfathered individual and small group markets outside of the exchange; and

(d) Unless prohibited by federal law and guidance, must allow health carriers to also offer pediatric oral services within the health benefit plan in the nongrandfathered individual and small group markets outside of the exchange.

(4) Beginning December 15, 2012, and every year thereafter, the commissioner shall submit to the legislature a list of state-mandated health benefits, the enforcement of which will result in federally imposed costs to the state related to the plans sold through the exchange because the benefits are not included in the essential health benefits designated under federal law. The list must include the anticipated costs to the state of each state-mandated health benefit on the list and any statutory changes needed if funds are not appropriated to defray the state costs for the listed mandate. The commissioner may enforce a mandate on the list for the entire market only if funds are appropriated in an omnibus appropriations act specifically to pay the state portion of the identified costs.

--- END ---