DOC Access Act

Summary

Dentist and Optometric Care Access Act or the DOC Access Act This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to prohibit group health plans and individual health insurance coverage from setting rates for items and services provided by a doctor of optometry, of dental surgery, or of dental medicine for which the plan or insurer does not pay a substantial amount. An agreement between a plan or insurer and such a doctor: (1) may only be changed with the doctor's acknowledgement and acceptance, and (2) may last longer than two years only with the prior acceptance of the doctor for each term extension if the agreement is for limited scope dental or vision benefits. Such a doctor must be allowed to participate in: (1) a plan or coverage without accepting terms for ancillary services or procedures, and (2) a provider network without participating in a specific limited scope dental or vision benefit plan. Plans and insurers may not: (1) directly communicate with an enrolled individual in a manner that interferes with an existing doctor-patient relationship or a state or federal requirement, or (2) restrict such a doctor's choice of laboratories or suppliers. The bill establishes a private right of action for a person adversely affected by a violation of this bill. The bill is preempted by state laws regarding health insurers and dental or vision benefit plans.

This text is taken from the official record. PoliticalRepo does not editorialize.

Timeline

No timeline events have been ingested for this record yet.

Votes

No vote records are attached yet.

Versions

No version snapshots stored. Document URLs remain at the source.

Documents

3 official files

• Introduced in House (text)

  Introduced in House · EN · 17 March 2017

  ViewDownloadOpen at official source

• Introduced in House (PDF)

  Introduced in House · EN · 17 March 2017

  ViewDownloadOpen at official source

• Introduced in House

  summary · EN · 17 March 2017

  Open at official source

Sponsors

No sponsors or actors listed by the source.

Related records

No cross-record relationships stored yet.