Rhode Island § 27-41-59 - Health Maintenance Organizations

§ 27-41-59. FDA approved prescription contraceptive drugs and devices.

(a) Every individual or group health insurance contract, plan, or policy that provides prescription coverage and is delivered, issued for delivery, or renewed in this state shall provide coverage for FDA approved contraceptive drugs and devices requiring a prescription; provided, that nothing in this subsection shall be deemed to mandate or require coverage for the prescription drug RU 486.

(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, any health maintenance corporation may issue to a religious employer an individual or group health insurance contract, plan, or policy that excludes coverage for prescription contraceptive methods that are contrary to the religious employer’s bona fide religious tenets.

(c) As used in this section, “religious employer” means an employer that is a “church or a qualified church-controlled organization” as defined in 26 U.S.C. § 3121.

(d) Every religious employer that invokes the exemption provided under this section shall provide written notice to prospective enrollees prior to enrollment with the plan, listing the contraceptive healthcare services the employer refuses to cover for religious reasons.

(e) Beginning on the first day of each plan year after April 1, 2019, every health insurance issuer offering group or individual health insurance coverage that covers prescription contraception shall not restrict reimbursement for dispensing a covered prescription contraceptive up to three hundred sixty-five (365) days at a time.