This bill seeks to regulate vision benefit managers and amend existing laws concerning vision care and healthcare contracting in Arkansas. It introduces new definitions, such as "vision benefit manager" and "enrollee," while prohibiting the reduction of benefits due to other insurance contracts. The legislation ensures that payments to vision care providers are fair and comply with Medicare rates, and it outlines prohibited practices for provider agreements, such as preventing forced discounts for noncovered services. Additionally, it prohibits insurers and vision benefit managers from steering enrollees towards specific providers and disallows the use of extrapolation in audits of vision care providers.

Moreover, the bill updates existing healthcare insurance laws by introducing a new category for "long-term care only plans" and removing "vision-only plans" from the list of plans not considered health benefit plans. It expands the definition of "healthcare insurer" to include "vision-only plans," thereby subjecting them to state insurance regulation. The bill establishes an effective date for its provisions, which will take effect upon the renewal of an enrollee's health benefit plan, the initiation of a new contract with a vision care provider, or by January 1, 2026, ensuring timely implementation of the new regulations.

Statutes affected:
HB 1353: 23-85-132, 23-85-122, 23-99-1002, 23-99-301, 17-90-301, 17-91-101, 17-95-401, 23-99-1003, 23-99-1202(5), 23-99-1202(7)