Continuing Coverage for Preexisting Conditions Act of 2021

Continuing Coverage for Preexisting Conditions Act of 2021

This bill establishes severability between provisions relating to the requirement to maintain minimum essential health care coverage (i.e., the individual mandate) and other provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Specifically, the bill provides that if the individual mandate is found to be illegal or incapable of being enforced, such findings do not affect the validity of other provisions relating to (1) the availability and renewability of coverage, or (2) the prohibitions against discriminatory coverage practices based on preexisting conditions or health status.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 145 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 145

To amend the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to ensure that 
 preexisting condition exclusions with respect to enrollment in health 
  insurance coverage and group health plans continue to be prohibited.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 4, 2021

Mr. Joyce of Ohio (for himself and Mr. Gonzalez of Ohio) introduced the 
   following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and 
                                Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to ensure that 
 preexisting condition exclusions with respect to enrollment in health 
  insurance coverage and group health plans continue to be prohibited.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Continuing Coverage for Preexisting 
Conditions Act of 2021''.

SEC. 2. ENSURING THE PROHIBITION OF PREEXISTING CONDITION EXCLUSIONS 
              WITH RESPECT TO ENROLLMENT IN HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE 
              AND GROUP HEALTH PLANS.

    Part I of subtitle F of title I of the Patient Protection and 
Affordable Care Act (42 U.S.C. 18091 et seq.) is amended by adding at 
the end the following section:

``SEC. 1503. SEVERABILITY.

    ``If subsection (a) of section 5000A of the Internal Revenue Code 
of 1986, as added by section 1501(b), is to any extent illegal, 
unconstitutional, otherwise invalid, or incapable of being enforced, 
the validity and enforceability of sections 2701 through 2705 of the 
Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300gg through 300gg-4), as added 
by section 1201, shall not be affected. Nothing in the previous 
sentence shall be construed to affect the severability of any provision 
of this Act that is not specified in the previous sentence.''.
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