S.Amdt. 2681

SA 2681. Mr. LEE submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by
him to the bill S. 4675, to amend the Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

Beginning on page 21, strike line 23 and all that follows
through the item relating to section 198 after line 2 on page
22 and insert the following:

``SEC. 199. STATE OPT-IN.

``(a) In General.--Sections 196, 197, and 198 shall apply
only in States that have in effect a law to apply such
sections to group health plans and health insurance coverage
offered in the State. A State may repeal such a law and
terminate the application of such sections in such State.
``(b) Scope of State Opt-in.--A State law described in
subsection (a) may apply with respect to all of the
requirements under sections 196, 197, and 198, any single
requirement under any of such sections, or any combination of
requirements under such sections, as determined by the State.
``(c) Enforcement Under ERISA and IRC.--Subsection (c) of
section 715 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of
1974 and subsection (c) of section 9815 of the Internal
Revenue Code of 1986 shall apply with respect to group health
plans and health insurance coverage in a State only to the
extent that sections 196, 197, and 198 apply in such State,
in accordance with this section.''.
(b) Conforming Amendment.--The table of contents under
section 1(b) of the Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-191) is amended by
inserting after the item relating to section 195 the
following:
``Sec. 196. Prohibition of pre-existing condition exclusions.

[[Page S6381]]

``Sec. 197. Guaranteed Availability of Coverage.
``Sec. 198. Prohibiting Discrimination against individual participants
and beneficiaries based on health status.
``Sec. 199. State opt-in.''.

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