1. A carrier that offers or issues a health benefit plan shall include in the plan coverage for:

(a) Counseling, support and supplies for breastfeeding, including breastfeeding equipment, counseling and education during the antenatal, perinatal and postpartum period for not more than 1 year;

(b) Screening and counseling for interpersonal and domestic violence for women at least annually, with initial intervention services consisting of education, strategies to reduce harm, supportive services or a referral for any other appropriate services;

(c) Behavioral counseling concerning sexually transmitted diseases from a provider of health care for sexually active women who are at increased risk for such diseases;

(d) Hormone replacement therapy;

(e) Such prenatal screenings and tests as recommended by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists or its successor organization;

(f) Screening for blood pressure abnormalities and diabetes, including gestational diabetes, after at least 24 weeks of gestation or as ordered by a provider of health care;

(g) Screening for cervical cancer at such intervals as are recommended by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists or its successor organization;

(h) Screening for depression;

(i) Screening and counseling for the human immunodeficiency virus consisting of a risk assessment, annual education relating to prevention and at least one screening for the virus during the lifetime of the insured or as ordered by a provider of health care;

(j) Smoking cessation programs for an insured who is 18 years of age or older consisting of not more than two cessation attempts per year and four counseling sessions per year;

(k) All vaccinations recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the United States Department of Health and Human Services or its successor organization; and

(l) Such well-woman preventative visits as recommended by the Health Resources and Services Administration, which must include at least one such visit per year beginning at 14 years of age.

2. A carrier must ensure that the benefits required by subsection 1 are made available to an insured through a provider of health care who participates in the network plan of the carrier.

3. Except as otherwise provided in subsection 5, a carrier that offers or issues a health benefit plan shall not:

(a) Require an insured to pay a higher deductible, any copayment or coinsurance or require a longer waiting period or other condition to obtain any benefit provided in the health benefit plan pursuant to subsection 1;

(b) Refuse to issue a health benefit plan or cancel a health benefit plan solely because the person applying for or covered by the plan uses or may use any such benefit;

(c) Offer or pay any type of material inducement or financial incentive to an insured to discourage the insured from obtaining any such benefit;

(d) Penalize a provider of health care who provides any such benefit to an insured, including, without limitation, reducing the reimbursement of the provider of health care;

(e) Offer or pay any type of material inducement, bonus or other financial incentive to a provider of health care to deny, reduce, withhold, limit or delay access to any such benefit to an insured; or

(f) Impose any other restrictions or delays on the access of an insured to any such benefit.

4. A plan subject to the provisions of this chapter that is delivered, issued for delivery or renewed on or after January 1, 2018, has the legal effect of including the coverage required by subsection 1, and any provision of the plan or the renewal which is in conflict with this section is void.

5. Except as otherwise provided in this section and federal law, a carrier may use medical management techniques, including, without limitation, any available clinical evidence, to determine the frequency of or treatment relating to any benefit required by this section or the type of provider of health care to use for such treatment.

6. As used in this section:

(a) “Medical management technique” means a practice which is used to control the cost or utilization of health care services or prescription drug use. The term includes, without limitation, the use of step therapy, prior authorization or categorizing drugs and devices based on cost, type or method of administration.

(b) “Network plan” means a health benefit plan offered by a carrier under which the financing and delivery of medical care, including items and services paid for as medical care, are provided, in whole or in part, through a defined set of providers under contract with the carrier. The term does not include an arrangement for the financing of premiums.

(c) “Provider of health care” has the meaning ascribed to it in NRS 629.031.

(Added to NRS by 2017, 1824)