H.R. 2630 118th Congress House

Safe Step Act

Official title: To amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to require a group health plan or health insurance coverage offered in connection with such a plan… Show full official titleShow less

Official title: To amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to require a group health plan or health insurance coverage offered in connection with such a plan to provide an exceptions process for any medication step therapy protocol, and for other purposes.

Introduced: September 29, 2023 See on congress.gov

Health Drug therapyEmployee benefits and pensionsHealth care costs and insuranceHealth care coverage and accessPrescription drugs

Everywhere this bill has been 2 steps

Introduced

In committee

Reported out

Passed House

Passed Senate

To President

Became law

Apr 13, 2023

Referred to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.

Apr 13, 2023

Introduced in House

Ask about this bill AI · grounded in the bill text

Have a question about what this bill does? Ask in plain English; the answer is drawn from the bill's actual text and official record, and it'll tell you when something isn't in the text rather than guess.

AI answers can be imperfect; always confirm against the full bill text.

Latest action April 13, 2023

Referred to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.

Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

Safe Step Act

This bill requires a group health plan to establish an exception to medication step-therapy protocol in specified cases. A medication step-therapy protocol establishes a specific sequence in which prescription drugs are covered by a group health plan or a health insurance issuer.

A request for such an exception to the protocol must be granted if (1) an otherwise required treatment has been ineffective, (2) such treatment is expected to be ineffective and delaying effective treatment would lead to irreversible consequences, (3) such treatment will cause or is likely to cause an adverse reaction to the individual, (4) such treatment is expected to prevent the individual from performing daily activities or occupational responsibilities, (5) the individual is stable based on the prescription drugs already selected, or (6) there are other circumstances as determined by the Employee Benefits Security Administration.

The bill requires a group health plan to implement and make readily available a clear process for an individual to request an exception to the protocol, including required information and criteria for granting an exception. The bill further specifies timelines under which plans must respond to such requests.

Related & companion bills 2

Bill text 1 version

Introduced in House Formatted Text PDF Formatted XML

Source documents hosted by congress.gov.

Committees of jurisdiction 1

Education and Workforce Committee
House of Representatives

Lobbying activity 12

Registered lobbyists who named this bill in their disclosure filings. Source: federal Lobbying Disclosure Act filings.

BLUE CROSS AND BLUE SHIELD OF FLORIDA, INC.
for BLUE CROSS AND BLUE SHIELD OF FLORIDA INC · Florida · 2nd Quarter 2025 (Apr 1 - June 30)
BLUE CROSS AND BLUE SHIELD OF KANSAS, INC.
for BLUE CROSS AND BLUE SHIELD OF KANSAS INC · Kansas · 2nd Quarter 2025 (Apr 1 - June 30)
BLUE CROSS AND BLUE SHIELD ASSOCIATION
for BLUE CROSS AND BLUE SHIELD ASSOCIATION · District of Columbia · 2nd Quarter 2025 (Apr 1 - June 30)
BCBSM, INC.
for BCBSM INC · Minnesota · 2nd Quarter 2025 (Apr 1 - June 30)
MCKESSON CORPORATION & AFFILIATES U.S. ONCOLOGY AND RX SAVINGS SOLUTIONS (FORMERLY MCKESSON CORP)
for MCKESSON CORPORATION & AFFILIATES U.S. ONCOLOGY AND RX SAVINGS SOLUTIONS · Texas · 1st Quarter 2025 (Jan 1 - Mar 31)
NORTH SOUTH GOVERNMENT STRATEGIES F/K/A JDM PUBLIC STRATEGIES, LLC
for MCKESSON CORPORATION & AFFILIATES U.S. ONCOLOGY AND RX SAVINGS SOLUTIONS (FORMER · Texas · 2nd Quarter 2025 (Apr 1 - June 30)

Bodies those filers lobbied

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
11 filings
SENATE
11 filings
Centers For Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
6 filings
Health & Human Services, Dept of (HHS)
6 filings
Executive Office of the President (EOP)
4 filings
Labor, Dept of (DOL)
4 filings
Office of Management & Budget (OMB)
4 filings
White House Office
4 filings

A filing lists the bills it worked on and the parts of government it contacted in separate sections, so these are the bodies those filers named anywhere in the filing, not a per-bill breakdown.

See all 12 filings →

Cosponsors 234