SB 1696 Summary

• Requires all health care insurers offering individual, short-term limited duration, or small employer group plans to cover ten categories of essential health care benefits including ambulatory services, emergency care, hospitalization, maternity care, mental health services, prescription drugs, and preventive care.

• Prohibits health care insurers from denying coverage or enrollment based on health status, imposing preexisting condition exclusions, canceling policies based on health status, or using health status to set premiums.

• Mandates coverage of dependent children until age 26 and eliminates annual or lifetime dollar limits on essential health benefits.

• Requires free preventive health care coverage as recommended by the United States Preventive Services Task Force, CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, and the Health Resources and Services Administration.

• Updates the definition of short-term limited duration insurance and requires clear notice to consumers that such coverage is not required to comply with federal health insurance market requirements.