2021 Georgia Code
Title 33 - Insurance
Chapter 20F - Self-Funded Healthcare Plans
- Ga. L. 2021, p. 113, § 1/HB 234, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: "This Act shall be known and may be cited as the 'Self-funded Healthcare Plan Opt-in to the Surprise Billing Consumer Protection Act.'"
Ga. L. 2021, p. 113, § 2/HB 234, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: "The General Assembly finds:
"(1) Georgia's Surprise Billing Consumer Protection Act requires insurers offering nonexempt healthcare plans in this state to comply with the provisions of such Act;
"(2) Those provisions include a requirement that such insurers participate in an arbitration process established by such Act in the event that an out-of-network provider or an out-of-network facility concludes that payment received from such insurer is insufficient given the complexity and circumstances of the services provided and initiates a request for arbitration with the Insurance Commissioner;
"(3) Georgia does not have the legal authority to require self-funded healthcare plans, subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, to comply with the Surprise Billing Consumer Protection Act, including such arbitration provisions; and
"(4) At present, this state is not prohibited, however, from enacting legislation which would allow such healthcare plans to voluntarily agree to comply with the provisions of the Surprise Billing Consumer Protection Act, including the arbitration process described in such Act."
