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1999 SESSION

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HB 699 Health insurance; coverage for hospice care.

Introduced by: Vincent F. Callahan, Jr. | all patrons    ...    notes | add to my profiles

SUMMARY AS PASSED HOUSE: (all summaries)

Accident and sickness insurance; coverage for hospice care. Requires health insurers, health maintenance organizations and corporations providing accident and sickness subscription contracts to provide coverage for hospice care. “Hospice care” means a coordinated program of home and inpatient care provided directly or under the direction of a licensed hospice and includes palliative and supportive physical, psychological, psychosocial and other health services to individuals with a terminal illness utilizing a medically directed interdisciplinary team. “Terminal illness” means a condition in an individual that has been diagnosed as terminal by a licensed physician, whose medical prognosis is death within six months, and who elect to receive palliative rather than curative care. The bill stipulates that documentation requirements for hospice coverage must be no greater than those required for the same services under Medicare. This bill does not prevent insurers, corporations, or health maintenance organizations from offering or providing coverage for hospice services where it cannot be demonstrated that the illness is terminal or that the individual’s life expectancy is longer than six months. The provisions of this bill do not apply to short-term travel, accident only short-term nonrenewable policies of not more than six months duration or to Medicare supplement policies.


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