Senate Bill No. 232
(By Senators Jackson, Tomblin, Mr. President, Bailey, Helmick, Chafin, Anderson, Dittmar, Ross, Kessler, Fanning, Schoonover, Love, Ball, Sharpe, Oliverio and Bowman)
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[Introduced January 28, 1998; referred to the Select Committee on Public Employees' Insurance.]
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A BILL to amend article sixteen, chapter five of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section twenty- eight, relating to prohibiting plans offered by the public employees insurance agency from changing their drug formulary without first giving sufficient notice to allow members to change plans.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article sixteen, chapter five of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section twenty-eight, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 16. WEST VIRGINIA PUBLIC EMPLOYEES INSURANCE ACT.
§5-16-28. Drug formulary change notice.
Any plan offered by the agency, including the medical indemnity plan and the managed care plan options, that changes the drug formulary shall give sufficient notice to allow the members of the plan to change plans during the open enrollment period.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to prohibit any plan offered by the public employees insurance agency from changing their drug formulary without first giving sufficient notice to members to allow them to change plans during the open enrollment period.

This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.