AN ACT to provide for a legislative management study relating to health care mandates.
Summary
SB 2249 directs the North Dakota Legislative Management to study historical health care mandates during the 2025-26 interim. The study is required to examine current health care mandates, including when each was enacted, its purpose, effectiveness, and whether it remains applicable today. It also must review the history of health care mandates and step therapy protocols, which are commonly used in insurance coverage decisions for prescription drugs and other treatments.
The bill further requires input from the Department of Health and Human Services, the Insurance Department, the Public Employees Retirement System, insurance providers, and other stakeholders. Legislative Management must then report its findings and recommendations, along with any proposed legislation needed to implement them, to the 70th Legislative Assembly.
Impact
This bill does not itself change insurance or health care law; instead, it creates a legislative study process that could lead to future statutory or policy changes. Its immediate effect is to place health care mandates and step therapy under formal review by Legislative Management and to involve key state agencies and industry participants in that review. Any direct legal impact would come later if the legislature adopts recommendations or follow-up legislation based on the study.
Sentiment
The bill appears to have broad bipartisan support and little overt opposition. It passed the Senate unanimously, 46-0, and the House by a strong margin, 75-9, suggesting general agreement that the state should review the history and current role of health care mandates. The voting pattern indicates that most legislators viewed the study as a low-risk, informational measure rather than a controversial policy change.
Contention
Because the bill only authorizes a study, there is no recorded committee debate in the provided materials and no specific policy dispute identified in the text. The only likely areas of contention are the underlying subjects of the study—health care mandates and step therapy—since those topics can affect insurance coverage, prescription access, employer-sponsored plans, and public employee benefits. Any disagreement would likely center on whether mandates should be expanded, retained, or reduced, but the bill itself does not take a position on those outcomes.
Prior authorization for health insurance; to provide for a legislative management study; to provide for a legislative management report; and to provide an effective date.
AN ACT to create and enact chapter 26.1-36.12 of the North Dakota Century Code, relating to prior authorization for health insurance; to provide for a legislative management study; to provide for a legislative management report; and to provide an effective date.