House Insurance Committee advances bill to preserve no-cost vaccine coverage as of Jan. 1, 2025

The Pennsylvania House Insurance Committee reported House Bill 1828 as amended after a 14-12 vote, advancing a measure that would require health insurance policies to continue covering vaccines that federal rules required insurers to cover without cost sharing as of Jan. 1, 2025.

The bill would require insurers to keep in place without patient cost sharing those vaccines that the federal government required insurers to cover as of Jan. 1, 2025. It gives the Pennsylvania Insurance Department authority to exempt specific vaccines or to require coverage of additional vaccines following a determination by the Pennsylvania Department of Health. The proposal includes a religious exemption.

Committee staff member Joe summarized the bill to the committee, saying, “House bill 18 28 requires health insurance policies to continue covering vaccines that the federal government required insurers to cover without cost sharing as of 01/01/2025.”

Representative Venkat, a co-prime sponsor, urged support on public-health and choice grounds, saying, “For millions of Pennsylvanians who choose to receive vaccines, they have come to depend upon insurance coverage without cost sharing as part of their choice to receive a vital preventive health care measure.” Venkat said that without the bill, after the 2026 plan year “we will be completely at the judgment or altruism of insurance companies” about continuing no-cost coverage.

Committee members adopted amendment A01731, described by committee staff as making technical changes, by a 14-12 roll call. The transcript records the vote as a 14-12 result; the amendment and the final report on the bill were adopted by the same margin. The transcript indicates the roll-call reflected party-line division: Democrats voting in the affirmative and Republicans voting in opposition. The meeting record does not list individual member vote names in the excerpt provided.

The bill does not specify new funding sources or create a state subsidy; it directs insurers’ coverage practices and delegates limited discretion to the Insurance Department tied to determinations by the Department of Health. The text presented to the committee includes a religious exemption; the transcript did not include further details about the scope or process for that exemption.

The committee reported the bill as amended by a 14-12 vote. No additional amendments, implementation timelines beyond the federal-reference date, or fiscal impacts were discussed in the provided transcript excerpt.

The committee moved on to other business after the vote; no directions to staff for rulemaking or additional reporting requirements were recorded in the excerpt.