SB 1953 Oklahoma Senate · 2026 Regular Session

Health insurance; creating the Employer Health Plan Transparency Act; prohibiting certain health plan from entering certain contracts; prohibiting certain contract provisions; requiring issuer to adhere to certain privacy regulations; establishing civil penalties. Effective date.

SB 1953, the Employer Health Plan Transparency Act, requires group health plans and public employee health plans in Oklahoma to ensure contracts with health insurers and service providers include full access to medical records, billing details, and payment documentation. It prohibits contracts from limiting information sharing about patient care or costs, mandates HIPAA-compliant disclosures, and requires itemized cost breakdowns for covered services. This directly affects employers offering health benefits, insurers, and healthcare providers by standardizing data access and transparency in coverage arrangements. The law aims to improve clarity for plan participants regarding medical expenses and service coverage under Oklahoma's health insurance framework.

Issues: ✓ Healthcare

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2026

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Feb 2, 2026 Last action Feb 24, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced → Floor (Senate) · 5 edits

MODERATE

The bill text was reformatted from an introduced version to a Senate floor version, with some minor text modifications to definitions. The substantive policy content remains the same, though there are slight wording changes in the definition of 'Group health plan' (removing 'welfare benefit') and 'Health insurance issuer' (adding specific entity types).

Scope change

No significant change to the bill's scope or applicability; the changes are primarily formatting and minor definition adjustments.

DEFINITION

The definition of 'Group health plan' was slightly modified by removing the words 'welfare benefit' before 'plan'.

The definition of 'Health insurance issuer' was expanded to explicitly include 'sickness and accident insurance company, health maintenance organization, nonprofit hospital and health service corporation, or other entity providing a plan of health insurance, health benefits, or health services'.

A new definition for 'HIPAA' was added, specifying it as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, P.L. No. 104-191, and all related provisions.

TECHNICAL

Removed introductory formatting text including session numbers, bill introduction status, and page headers from the introduced version.

Added Senate floor version headers, date (February 19, 2026), and committee amendment notation.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Feb 19, 2026

Upper · Passed

Reported Do Pass as amended Business and Insurance committee; CR filed

upper

Feb 2, 2026

Introduced

First Reading

upper

2 primary · 0 co-sponsors