(a) For purposes of this section:
(1) “Carrier” means any entity that provides health insurance in this State. “Carrier” includes an insurance company, health service corporation, health maintenance organization, and any other entity providing a plan of health insurance or health benefits subject to state insurance regulation. “Carrier” also includes any third-party administrator or other entity that adjusts, administers, or settles claims in connection with health benefit plans.
(2) “FDA” means the Food and Drug Administration.
(3) a. “Health benefit plan” means any hospital or medical policy or certificate, major medical expense insurance, health service corporation subscriber contract, or health maintenance organization subscriber contract. “Health benefit plan” does not include accident-only, credit, dental, vision, Medicaid plans, long-term care or disability income insurance, coverage issued as a supplement to liability insurance, worker’s compensation or similar insurance, or automobile medical payment insurance.
b. “Health benefit plan” does not include policies or certificates of specified disease, hospital confinement indemnity, or limited benefit health insurance, if the carrier offering such policies or certificates has done the following:
1. Filed on or before March 1 of each year a certification with the Commissioner that contains the following statement:
A. A statement from the carrier certifying that policies or certificates described in this paragraph are being offered and marketed as supplemental health insurance and not as a substitute for hospital or medical expense insurance or major medical expense insurance.
B. A summary description of each policy or certificate described in this paragraph, including the average annual premium rates or range of premium rates in cases where premiums vary by age, gender, or other factors charged for such policies and certificates in this State.
2. In the case of a policy or certificate that is described in this paragraph (a)(3)b. and that is offered for the first time in this State on or after January 1, 1999, the carrier files with the Commissioner the information and statement required in this paragraph (a)(3)b. at least 30 days prior to the date such a policy or certificate is issued or delivered in this State.
(4) “Therapeutic equivalent” means a contraceptive drug, device, or product that is all of the following:
a. Approved as safe and effective.
b. Pharmaceutically equivalent to another contraceptive drug, device, or product in that it contains an identical amount of the same active drug ingredient in the same dosage form and route of administration and meets compendial or other applicable standards of strength, quality, purity, and identity.
c. Assigned, by the FDA, the same therapeutic equivalence code as another contraceptive drug, device, or product.
(b) Carriers shall provide coverage for contraceptive methods in all health benefit plans delivered or issued for delivery in this State. Coverage for contraceptive methods must include all of the following:
(1) All FDA-approved contraceptive drugs, devices, and other products as follows:
a. If the FDA has approved 1 or more therapeutic equivalents of a contraceptive drug, device, or product, the health benefit plan is not required to include all such therapeutically equivalent versions in its formulary as long as at least 1 is included and covered without cost-sharing and in accordance with this section.
b. If there is a therapeutic equivalent of a drug, device, or other product for an FDA-approved contraceptive method, the health benefit plan may provide coverage for more than 1 drug, device, or other product and may impose cost-sharing requirements as long as at least 1 drug, device, or other product for that method is available without cost-sharing. If, however, an individual’s attending provider recommends a particular FDA-approved contraceptive based on a medical determination with respect to that individual, regardless of whether the contraceptive has a therapeutic equivalent, the health benefit plan shall provide coverage for the prescribed contraceptive drug, device, or product without cost-sharing.
c. The health benefit plan is not required to provide coverage for male condoms.
(2) FDA-approved contraception available over-the-counter, including emergency contraception, whether with or without a prescription, or dispensed consistent with the requirements of Chapter 25 of Title 24.
(3) A prescription for contraceptives intended to last for no more than a 12-month period which may be dispensed all at once or over the course of the 12-month period, regardless of whether the covered individual was enrolled in the health benefit plan under this chapter at the time the prescription contraceptive was first dispensed.
(4) Voluntary female sterilization procedures.
(5) Patient education and counseling on contraception.
(6) Follow-up services related to the drugs, devices, products, and procedures covered under this subsection, including management of side effects, counseling for continued adherence, and device insertion and removal.
(7) Immediate postpartum insertion of long-acting reversible contraception.
(c) (1) Coverage provided under this section is not subject to any deductible, coinsurance, copayment, or any other cost-sharing requirement, except under paragraph (b)(1) of this section or as otherwise required under federal law. Coverage offered under this section may not impose unreasonable restrictions or delays in the coverage, except that reasonable medical management techniques may be applied to coverage within a method category, as defined by the FDA, but not across types of methods.
(2) Coverage provided to a covered individual under this section shall be the same for the covered individual’s covered spouse and covered dependents.
(d) This section does not preclude coverage for contraceptive drugs, devices, products, and procedures as prescribed by a provider for reasons other than contraceptive purposes, including decreasing the risk of ovarian cancer, eliminating symptoms of menopause, or providing contraception that is necessary to preserve the life or health of the covered individual.
(e) The plan is not required under this section to cover experimental or investigational treatments.
(f) A religious employer may request and an entity subject to this section shall grant an exclusion from coverage under the policy, plan, or contract for the coverage required under this section for the insertion and removal and medically necessary examination associated with the use of FDA-approved drugs or devices if the required coverage conflicts with the religious organization’s bona fide religious beliefs and practices. A religious employer that obtains an exclusion under this subsection shall provide its employees reasonable and timely notice of the exclusion.