Senate Bill No. 56
(By Senator Chafin)
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[Introduced January 8, 2003; referred to the Committee on
Banking and Insurance.]
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A BILL to amend article fifteen, chapter thirty-three of the code
of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section
twenty-two, relating to accident and sickness insurance
generally; and prohibiting certain insurers from requiring any
person covered under a contract to obtain prescription drugs
from a mail-order pharmacy in order to obtain benefits for
drugs or to pay a fee for using another pharmacy.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article fifteen, chapter thirty-three 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-two, to read as follows:
.ARTICLE 15. ACCIDENT AND SICKNESS INSURANCE.
§33-15-22. Required use of mail-order pharmacy prohibited.
(a) A group medical benefit contract issued by an insurance
company, a hospital service corporation, a hospital and medical
service corporation, a medical service corporation, a health
maintenance organization or a health care center which provides
coverage for prescription drugs may not require any person covered
under a contract to obtain prescription drugs from a mail-order
pharmacy in order to obtain benefits for drugs, or to pay an
additional fee or be subjected to any other penalty for failing to
use any mail-order pharmacy designated by the insurance company or
other issuing organization.
(b) The insurance commissioner may propose rules for
legislative approval in accordance with the provisions of article
three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code to implement and enforce
the provisions of this section.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to prohibit certain
insurers from requiring any person covered under an insurance
contract to obtain prescription drugs from a mail-order pharmacy in
order to obtain benefits for drugs or to avoid extra fees.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.