HBA-TBM H.B. 1929 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1929 By: Deshotel Insurance 4/1/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Many health care plans that provide benefits for prescription drugs (drugs) offer their policy holders the option of ordering the drugs by mail. In some cases, the convenience of ordering by mail convinces a policy holder to obtain drugs by that method. In other cases, a policy holder may prefer to fill prescriptions at a local pharmacy. Under current law, a health care provider may discourage the use of local pharmacies by issuing incentives to policy holders who choose to fill prescriptions by mail. House Bill 1929 prevents health care plans from discriminating against the use of local pharmacies. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS House Bill 1929 amends the Insurance Code to provide that a health benefit plan that provides benefits for prescription drugs must provide the same prescription drugs under the same circumstances for prescription drugs not obtained by mail order as for prescription drugs obtained by mail order. The bill prohibits a health benefit plan from charging an amount for a prescription drug not obtained by mail order that exceeds the amount imposed for a prescription drug obtained by mail order. An issuer of a health benefit plan that violates this provision commits an unfair act in the business of insurance. This Act applies only to a health benefit plan that is delivered, issued for delivery, or renewed on or after January 1, 2002. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.