Prescription drug coverage.
This bill would require a health care service plan or health insurer that provides prescription drug benefits and maintains one or more drug formularies to furnish specified information about a prescription drug upon request by an enrollee or insured, or their health care provider. The bill would require the plan or insurer to respond in real time to that request and ensure the information is current no later than one business day after a change is made. The bill would prohibit a health care service plan or health insurer from, among other things, restricting a health care provider from sharing the information furnished about the prescription drug or penalizing a provider for prescribing a lower cost drug. Because a willful violation of these provisions by a health care service plan would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.