Nebraska insurance laws

What it would do: Amends section 68-912 to require the department to permit managed care organizations under the medical assistance program to pay deductibles, cost sharing, or similar charges on behalf of medicaid enrollees as allowed under federal law.

What it would do: Amends Nebraska Workers' Compensation Act section 48-119 to extend the waiting period before compensation begins from three to seven calendar days of disability, and changes the threshold for computing compensation from the disability start date from two weeks to six weeks or longer.

What it would do: Amends Nebraska Workers' Compensation Act section 48-121 to extend temporary disability compensation until thirty days after notice of permanent disability determination, require employers to provide evidence and pay for independent medical examiners when terminating benefits, and add notice requirements for benefit cessation.

What it would do: Limits homeowners insurance rate increases by prohibiting insurers from filing rates more than ten percent above the highest rate approved by the director in the previous twelve calendar months for filings on or after July 1, 2026.

What it would do: Amends Nebraska's Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Insurance Coverage Act to clarify that coverage limits for vehicles under the same or related policyholders cannot be stacked, while allowing stacking for separate policyholders who are unrelated, and revises the priority order for payment when multiple policies apply.

What it would do: Amends Nebraska Workers' Compensation Act to require employer payment for interpreter services, expand physician selection rights, reduce disability compensation percentages from 75% to 66.67%, implement annual cost-of-living adjustments to benefits, double maximum weekly income benefits to 200% of state average wage, and provide $25,000 to personal representatives when no dependents exist.

What it would do: Amends insurance producer licensing provisions to exempt producers from retaliatory measures, streamline nonresident license verification and termination procedures, and add a ground for license denial if producers fail to maintain good standing in their home state. Requires pharmacy benefit managers to immediately notify the director of material changes affecting their license qualification.

What it would do: Requires emergency care providers to maintain and implement a billing policy for submitting claims to public or private third-party payors to be eligible for state-funded emergency medical services grant assistance.

What it would do: Amends workers' compensation insurance policy requirements to allow employers to choose medical deductibles of $500-$2,500 per claim or deductibles up to 40% of annual premium (minimum $50,000), requires insurers to pay claims directly then seek reimbursement, and credits deductible losses to experience modification beginning January 1, 2027.

What it would do: Prohibits insurance policies, health plans, and pharmacy benefit managers from refusing to authorize or pay for clinician-administered drugs, imposing additional costs or limitations based on pharmacy selection, or steering patients away from their chosen provider. Restricts specialty pharmacy network exclusions and requires reasonable terms.

What it would do: Prohibits insurers from requiring nonoriginal equipment manufacturer parts unless they carry permanent identification, are equal in quality to original parts, and the consumer consents in writing. Requires insurers to provide notice to consumers and prohibits requiring aftermarket parts on vehicles manufactured within thirty-six months of damage.

What it would do: Amends Nebraska insurance fraud laws to increase penalties for fraudulent insurance acts, redefine terms under the Insured Homeowners Protection Act, modify public adjuster licensing requirements and conduct standards, and restrict post-loss assignments and deductible rebates.

What it would do: Establishes the Nebraska Protection of Seniors from Insurance Exploitation Act, providing insurers and trained individuals immunity for disclosing suspected financial exploitation of seniors and vulnerable adults, and allowing insurers to delay disbursements up to 55 business days while investigating suspected exploitation.

What it would do: Redefines health plan to include pharmacy benefit managers and other parties legally responsible for payment of claims. Requires entities issuing health plans to respond to department requests within 30 days and prohibits denying claims solely based on submission date, form type, or documentation issues if submitted within three years of service.

What it would do: Prohibits health insurers, their contracted vendors, and care management organizations from requiring that credit card be the only acceptable payment method for payments to health care providers issued on or after January 1, 2027.

What it would do: Requires insurance policies and self-funded plans to cover acquired brain injury services by January 1, 2027, and diagnostic testing and FDA-approved treatments for Alzheimer's disease and related dementia by January 1, 2028, without step-therapy requirements. Establishes expedited appeal process for coverage denials.

What it would do: Requires health carriers and pharmacy benefit managers to include amounts paid by enrollees or paid on their behalf by others toward out-of-pocket maximums and cost-sharing requirements for health benefit plans entered into, amended, extended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2026, with an exception for health savings accounts.

What it would do: Creates the Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance Act, effective January 1, 2028, allowing covered individuals and employers to participate in a program providing up to ten weeks of paid leave annually for qualifying reasons including childbirth, serious health conditions, and military family care, funded by participant contributions.

What it would do: Beginning July 1, 2025, the Nebraska State Insurance Program shall include coverage for in vitro fertilization, limited to four completed egg retrievals lifetime and restricted to individuals unable to conceive through less expensive covered treatments, with procedures performed at facilities meeting American Society for Reproductive Medicine standards.

What it would do: Prohibits the Department of Health and Human Services and commercial insurers from disadvantaging non-opioid pain drugs compared to opioids on formularies, including through restrictive coverage criteria, prior authorization, step therapy, or higher cost-sharing tiers.

What it would do: Requires health insurers, nonprofit health service plans, health maintenance organizations, and the medical assistance program to cover biomarker testing for diagnosis, treatment, management, or monitoring of diseases when supported by FDA approvals, drug labels, Medicare determinations, or clinical practice guidelines, effective January 1, 2026.

What it would do: Prohibits life insurers, disability insurers, and long-term care insurers from canceling, limiting, denying coverage, or establishing premium differentials based on genetic information, and prohibits requiring or soliciting genetic information or test results absent a clinical diagnosis.

What it would do: Prohibits covered entities from discriminating or retaliating against individuals for reporting work-related injuries or seeking remedies under the Nebraska Workers' Compensation Act. Provides a right to jury trial in civil actions under the Nebraska Fair Employment Practice Act, including against state and governmental agencies.

What it would do: Amends the Nebraska Workers' Compensation Act to make cancer compensable as an occupational disease for professional and volunteer firefighters with five or more years of service if exposure to specified carcinogens is demonstrated, and establishes rebuttable presumptions for cancer diagnosis during or within specified periods after employment.

What it would do: Requires individual and group sickness and accident insurance policies, hospital and medical expense policies, and self-funded employee benefit plans delivered or renewed in Nebraska to cover prosthetics and orthotics at least equal to federal Medicare coverage as of January 1, 2024, with coverage limited to medically necessary items as determined by treating physicians.