New Hampshire Health Insurance Laws

On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed a health care bill into law that requires every American to purchase health insurance. This includes residents of New Hampshire. In addition to this federal legislation, New Hampshire has its own specific laws regarding health insurance, created and regulated by state legislators. New Hampshire health insurance laws seek particularly to create equal and effective insurance coverage for all residents of the state.

New Hampshire Health First

• On October 1, 2009, New Hampshire introduced a new state health-insurance program called Health First. This program is intended to help small-business owners provide for employees by requiring insurance providers with at least 1,000 clients to offer this state-sponsored plan. New Hampshire Health First provides standard health coverage and requires insurance companies to make this coverage affordable, reducing policy costs to, at most, “10% of the median statewide wage.”

Coverage for the Obese

• Problems arising from obesity must be covered under health insurance policies in New Hampshire.

  Health insurance companies are now required by New Hampshire state law to cover obesity-related ailments, including high blood pressure, heart disease, and diabetes. Insurance companies also must provide for the treatment of obesity, including such treatments as nutritional counseling and procedures including bariatric surgery, which is a kind of surgery that reduces the size of a patient’s stomach in order to combat obesity. The patient must be at least 18 years of age to qualify for bariatric surgery.

Midwife Services

• Professional midwives and the services that they render must be covered under health insurance in New Hampshire for any expecting mother who chooses this option. The midwife must be certified, but the birth procedure may take place either in a health care facility or in the home.

Prescription Charges

• Residents of New Hampshire cannot be overcharged for prescription drugs.

  Any health care insurance provider that provides a co-payment for prescription drugs may not overcharge for these prescriptions. In other words, if the cost of a prescription is less than the price of the insurance policy co-payment, the insured must be allowed to pay the lower price.

Durable Medical Equipment

• The New Hampshire Insurance Department is required to establish standards that make durable medical equipment equally available to all state citizens who have a prescription for this equipment. Health insurance companies may continue to issue prescriptions for any durable medical equipment that is shipped directly to patient homes.