SB 404: HEALTH CARE: Provides relative to eye care providers. (gov sig) (EN INCREASE SG EX See Note) - Louisiana

Senate Floor Bureau Note, #1241, McMath, Adopted → SB404 Act · 5 edits

MODERATE

The bill was finalized into an Act, transitioning from Senate floor amendments to official statutory language. The core policy change establishes non-discrimination between optometrists and physicians for covered eye care services, requiring equal reimbursement and prohibiting higher co-pays for optometrists. It also creates a new 'Louisiana Vision Plan Transparency and Fair Practice Act' to regulate vision benefit managers and ensure fair business practices.

Scope change

The bill's scope expanded from proposed amendments to enacted law, specifically adding a new Part XIII to the Louisiana Revised Statutes dedicated to vision benefit insurance and discount plans.

REQUIREMENT

Mandates that health plans provide equal benefits and reimbursement amounts for services performed by either an optometrist or a physician when both are licensed to perform the service.

Prohibits health plans from charging optometrists higher co-pays or co-insurance amounts than those charged for the same service provided by an allopathic or osteopathic physician.

Forbids requiring optometrists to participate in other medical or vision plans as a condition of their participation in a specific plan.

DEFINITION

Enacts a new section establishing the 'Louisiana Vision Plan Transparency and Fair Practice Act' to govern vision benefit managers and plans.

TECHNICAL

Converted the text from a 'Senate Floor Note' format with amendment numbers to the formal 'Enrolled Act' format with statutory section numbers.

SB404 Original → Senate Floor Bureau Note, #1241, McMath, Adopted · 3 edits

MINOR

The bill was amended to clarify that access to eye care is a matter of public health, correct a grammatical error regarding the definition of 'ocular' services, fix a typo in the title section, and change the phrasing on non-agreement to better reflect the intent of the legislation.

DEFINITION

Changed the definition of 'ocular' services to ensure clarity in what services are covered under the new vision benefit laws.

REQUIREMENT

Corrected a typo in the bill title from 'agreeance' to 'agreement' to accurately describe the new transparency requirements for vision plans.

TECHNICAL

Fixed a grammatical error in the legislative findings section to improve the readability and precision of the bill's purpose.

SB404 Enrolled → SB404 Original · 2 edits

MINOR

This bill removes the requirement for the new section numbers to include decimal points (e.g., changing '1809.1' to '1809') and updates the list of sponsoring legislators by removing several names. The core policy regarding non-discrimination between optometrists and physicians remains unchanged.

TECHNICAL

The bill's text was updated to remove decimal points from the new section numbers (e.g., R.S. 22:1809.1 became R.S. 22:1809), likely to align with standard statutory formatting.

The list of senators and representatives sponsoring the bill was shortened, removing names such as FESI, HENSGENS, and others from the original version.

SB404 Reengrossed → SB404 Enrolled · 3 edits · May 19, 2026

MINOR

The bill was finalized for signature by updating the document status from 'Reengrossed' to 'Enrolled' and replacing the list of sponsoring legislators. Substantively, the bill's scope was expanded by renumbering the new vision care statutes to start at 1809.1 instead of 1809, creating space for additional future laws. The text of the actual laws regarding optometrist rights and plan transparency remains unchanged in this version.

Scope change

The bill's scope was technically expanded by shifting the starting statute number from 1809 to 1809.1, which allows for the insertion of new statutes between the existing law and the new vision care provisions.

TECHNICAL

The bill status changed from 'Reengrossed' to 'Enrolled', indicating it has passed both legislative chambers and is ready for the Governor's signature.

SCOPE

The starting statute number for the new vision care laws was changed from 1809 to 1809.1, creating a gap in the statute numbering to allow for future additions.

ELIGIBILITY

The list of legislators sponsoring the bill was updated to reflect the final roster of sponsors after the bill was reengrossed.

SB404 Engrossed → SB404 Reengrossed · 2 edits · Mar 25, 2026

MINOR

The bill was reengrossed to update the list of sponsoring legislators, adding Larvadain and St. Blanc while removing Dickerson, Edmonston, Egan, Farnum, Fisher, Galle, and others. Additionally, the document page count increased from 34 to 35, indicating new content was added to the text.

Scope change

The scope of the bill's applicability remains unchanged; the legislative findings regarding access to eye care services are still in effect.

TECHNICAL

The list of bill sponsors was updated to reflect changes in the sponsoring committee, adding Larvadain and St. Blanc and removing several previous sponsors.

New text was inserted into the bill, increasing the total page count from 34 to 35, though the specific policy content of the addition is not detailed in the provided diff.

HEALTH CARE: Provides relative to eye care providers. (gov sig) (EN INCREASE SG EX See Note)

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