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Patient Choice and Access Act of 2026
To amend the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to provide that qualified health plans are not required to use a provider network.
Summary
This bill amends the Affordable Care Act to allow qualified health plans to operate without maintaining a network of contracted healthcare providers, starting in 2027. Plans choosing not to have networks must provide clear information to enrollees about expected out-of-pocket costs and the risk of balance billing. These plans must also offer customer service or online tools to help enrollees find providers who will accept the plan's benefit amounts as full payment. The federal government would no longer be permitted to require plans to maintain provider networks as a certification requirement. These transparency and assistance requirements would apply to plans without networks beginning January 1, 2027.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
3 cosponsors
Actions (2)
- Jun 2, 2026 Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. · house
- Jun 2, 2026 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 2, 2026
Mr. Rulli (for himself, Mr. Griffith, Mr. Balderson, and Mr. Bean of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
A BILL
To amend the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to provide that qualified health plans are not required to use a provider network.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Patient Choice and Access Act of 2026”.
SEC. 2. PROVIDING THAT QUALIFIED HEALTH PLANS ARE NOT REQUIRED TO USE A PROVIDER NETWORK.
(a) In General.—Section 1311(c)(2) of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (42 U.S.C. 18031(c)(2)) is amended—
(1) in the paragraph heading, by inserting “; clarification on use of provider networks” after “Rule of construction”;
(2) by striking “Nothing in” and inserting:
“(A) Rule of construction.—Nothing in”; and
(3) by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:
“(B) Clarification on use of provider networks.— For plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2027, the Secretary may not require a plan to maintain a provider network in order to meet the criteria established under subparagraphs (B) and (C) of paragraph (1).”.
(b) Exchange Certification.—Section 1311(e)(1)(B) of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (42 U.S.C. 18031(e)(1)(B)) is amended—
(1) in clause (ii), by striking “or” at the end;
(2) in clause (iii), by striking the period at the end and inserting “; or”; and
(3) by adding at the end the following new clause:
“(iv) for plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2027, on the basis that the plan does not maintain a provider network.”.
(c) Transparency Requirements for Qualified Health Plans Without Provider Networks.—Section 1311(c)(1) of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (42 U.S.C. 18031(c)(1)) is amended—
(1) in subparagraph (H), by striking “and” at the end;
(2) in subparagraph (I), by striking the period at the end and inserting “; and”; and
(3) by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:
“(J) for plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2027, in the case of a plan that does not maintain a provider network—
“(i) provide information in plain language to plan enrollees and potential enrollees with respect to expected out-of-pocket costs and the potential for balance billing; and
“(ii) provide adequate customer service or online provider search assistance resources to assist plan enrollees and potential enrollees in finding providers in their area who will accept the plan’s benefit amounts as payment in full for items and services for which benefits are available under the plan.”. <all>
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