Respect for Rights of Conscience Act of 2011 - Amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) to permit a health plan to decline coverage of specific items and services that are contrary to the religious beliefs of the sponsor, issuer, or other entity offering the plan or the purchaser or beneficiary (in the case of individual coverage) without penalty. Declares that such plans are still considered to: (1) be providing the essential health benefits package or preventive health services, (2) be a qualified health plan, and (3) have fulfilled other requirements under PPACA.
Declares that nothing in PPACA shall be construed to authorize a health plan to require a provider to provide, participate in, or refer for a specific item or service contrary to the provider's religious beliefs or moral convictions. Prohibits a health plan from being considered to have failed to provide timely or other access to items or services or to fulfill any other requirement under PPACA because it has respected the rights of conscience of such a provider.
Prohibits an American Health Benefit Exchange (a state health insurance exchange) or other official or entity acting in a governmental capacity in the course of implementing PPACA from discriminating against a health plan, plan sponsor, health care provider, or other person because of an unwillingness to provide coverage of, participate in, or refer for, specific items or services.
Creates a private cause of action for the protection of individual rights created under this Act. Authorizes any person or entity to assert a violation of this Act as a claim or defense in a judicial proceeding.
Designates the Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to receive and investigate complaints of discrimination based on this Act.
Makes this Act effective as if it were included in PPACA.
[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1467 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
112th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1467
To amend the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to protect
rights of conscience with regard to requirements for coverage of
specific items and services.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
August 2, 2011
Mr. Blunt (for himself, Mr. Rubio, and Ms. Ayotte) introduced the
following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to protect
rights of conscience with regard to requirements for coverage of
specific items and services.
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 ``Respect for Rights of Conscience Act
of 2011''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
(1) As Thomas Jefferson declared to New London Methodists
in 1809, ``[n]o provision in our Constitution ought to be
dearer to man than that which protects the rights of conscience
against the enterprises of the civil authority''.
(2) Jefferson's statement expresses a conviction on respect
for conscience that is deeply embedded in the history and
traditions of our Nation and codified in numerous State and
Federal laws, including laws on health care.
(3) Until enactment of the Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111-148, in this section
referred to as ``PPACA''), the Federal Government has not
sought to impose specific coverage or care requirements that
infringe on the rights of conscience of insurers, purchasers of
insurance, plan sponsors, beneficiaries, and other
stakeholders, such as individual or institutional health care
providers.
(4) PPACA creates a new nationwide requirement for health
plans to cover ``essential health benefits'' and ``preventive
services'' (including a distinct set of ``preventive services
for women''), delegating to the Department of Health and Human
Services the authority to provide a list of detailed services
under each category, and imposes other new requirements with
respect to the provision of health care services.
(5) While PPACA provides an exemption for some religious
groups that object to participation in Government health
programs generally, it does not allow purchasers, plan
sponsors, and other stakeholders with religious or moral
objections to specific items or services to decline providing
or obtaining coverage of such items or services, or allow
health care providers with such objections to decline to
provide them.
(6) By creating new barriers to health insurance and
causing the loss of existing insurance arrangements, these
inflexible mandates in PPACA jeopardize the ability of
individuals to exercise their rights of conscience and their
ability to freely participate in the health insurance and
health care marketplace.
(b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are--
(1) to ensure that health care stakeholders retain the
right to provide, purchase, or enroll in health coverage that
is consistent with their religious beliefs and moral
convictions, without fear of being penalized or discriminated
against under PPACA; and
(2) to ensure that no requirement in PPACA creates new
pressures to exclude those exercising such conscientious
objection from health plans or other programs under PPACA.
SEC. 3. RESPECT FOR RIGHTS OF CONSCIENCE.
(a) In General.--Section 1302(b) of the Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111-148; 42 U.S.C. 18022(b)) is amended
by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
``(6) Respecting rights of conscience with regard to
specific items or services.--
``(A) For health plans.--A health plan shall not be
considered to have failed to provide the essential
health benefits package described in subsection (a) (or
preventive health services described in section 2713 of
the Public Health Service Act), to fail to be a
qualified health plan, or to fail to fulfill any other
requirement under this title on the basis that it
declines to provide coverage of specific items or
services because--
``(i) providing coverage (or, in the case
of a sponsor of a group health plan, paying for
coverage) of such specific items or services is
contrary to the religious beliefs or moral
convictions of the sponsor, issuer, or other
entity offering the plan; or
``(ii) such coverage (in the case of
individual coverage) is contrary to the
religious beliefs or moral convictions of the
purchaser or beneficiary of the coverage.
``(B) For health care providers.--Nothing in this
title (or any amendment made by this title) shall be
construed to require an individual or institutional
health care provider, or authorize a health plan to
require a provider, to provide, participate in, or
refer for a specific item or service contrary to the
provider's religious beliefs or moral convictions.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this title, a
health plan shall not be considered to have failed to
provide timely or other access to items or services
under this title (or any amendment made by this title)
or to fulfill any other requirement under this title
because it has respected the rights of conscience of
such a provider pursuant to this paragraph.
``(C) Nondiscrimination in exercising rights of
conscience.--No Exchange or other official or entity
acting in a governmental capacity in the course of
implementing this title (or any amendment made by this
title) shall discriminate against a health plan, plan
sponsor, health care provider, or other person because
of such plan's, sponsor's, provider's, or person's
unwillingness to provide coverage of, participate in,
or refer for, specific items or services pursuant to
this paragraph.
``(D) Construction.--Nothing in subparagraph (A) or
(B) shall be construed to permit a health plan or
provider to discriminate in a manner inconsistent with
subparagraphs (B) and (D) of paragraph (4).
``(E) Private rights of action.--The various
protections of conscience in this paragraph constitute
the protection of individual rights and create a
private cause of action for those persons or entities
protected. Any person or entity may assert a violation
of this paragraph as a claim or defense in a judicial
proceeding.
``(F) Remedies.--
``(i) Federal jurisdiction.--The Federal
courts shall have jurisdiction to prevent and
redress actual or threatened violations of this
paragraph by granting all forms of legal or
equitable relief, including, but not limited
to, injunctive relief, declaratory relief,
damages, costs, and attorney fees.
``(ii) Initiating party.--An action under
this paragraph may be instituted by the
Attorney General of the United States, or by
any person or entity having standing to
complain of a threatened or actual violation of
this paragraph, including, but not limited to,
any actual or prospective plan sponsor, issuer,
or other entity offering a plan, any actual or
prospective purchaser or beneficiary of a plan,
and any individual or institutional health care
provider.
``(iii) Interim relief.--Pending final
determination of any action under this
paragraph, the court may at any time enter such
restraining order or prohibitions, or take such
other actions, as it deems necessary.
``(G) Administration.--The Office for Civil Rights
of the Department of Health and Human Services is
designated to receive complaints of discrimination
based on this paragraph and coordinate the
investigation of such complaints.
``(H) Actuarial equivalence.--Nothing in this
paragraph shall prohibit the Secretary from issuing
regulations or other guidance to ensure that health
plans excluding specific items or services under this
paragraph shall have an aggregate actuarial value at
least equivalent to that of plans at the same level of
coverage that do not exclude such items or services.''.
(b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall be
effective as if included in the enactment of Public Law 111-148.
<all>
Introduced in Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
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