Every individual or group health care service plan contract, except for a specialized health care service plan, that is issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2002, and that includes coverage for treatment or surgery of cervical cancer shall also be deemed to provide coverage for an annual cervical cancer screening test upon the referral of the patient’s physician and surgeon, a nurse practitioner, or a certified nurse midwife, providing care to the patient and operating within the scope of practice otherwise permitted for the licensee.
The coverage for an annual cervical cancer screening test provided pursuant to this section shall include the conventional Pap test, a human papillomavirus screening test that is approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration, and the option of any cervical cancer screening test approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration, upon the referral of the patient’s health care provider.
Nothing in this section shall be construed to establish a new mandated benefit or to prevent application of deductible or copayment provisions in an existing plan contract. The Legislature intends in this section to provide that cervical cancer screening services are deemed to be covered if the plan contract includes coverage for cervical cancer treatment or surgery.
(Amended by Stats. 2010, Ch. 328, Sec. 119. (SB 1330) Effective January 1, 2011.)