Wisconsin Statutes & Annotations
Chapter 632 - Insurance contracts in specific lines.
632.861 - Prescription drug charges.

632.861 Prescription drug charges.
(1) Definitions. In this section:
(a) “Disability insurance policy” has the meaning given in s. 632.895 (1) (a).
(b) “Enrollee” means an individual who is covered under a disability insurance policy or a self-insured health plan.
(c) “Pharmacy benefit manager” has the meaning given in s. 632.865 (1) (c).
(d) “Prescription drug” has the meaning given in s. 450.01 (20).
(e) “Prescription drug benefit” has the meaning given in s. 632.865 (1) (e).
(f) “Self-insured health plan” has the meaning given in s. 632.85 (1) (c).
(2) Allowing disclosures.
(a) A disability insurance policy or self-insured health plan that provides a prescription drug benefit may not restrict, directly or indirectly, any pharmacy that dispenses a prescription drug to an enrollee in the policy or plan from informing, or penalize such pharmacy for informing, an enrollee of any differential between the out-of-pocket cost to the enrollee under the policy or plan with respect to acquisition of the drug and the amount an individual would pay for acquisition of the drug without using any health plan or health insurance coverage.
(b) A disability insurance policy or self-insured health plan that provides a prescription drug benefit shall ensure that any pharmacy benefit manager that provides services under a contract with the policy or plan does not, with respect to such policy or plan, restrict, directly or indirectly, any pharmacy that dispenses a prescription drug to an enrollee in the policy or plan from informing, or penalize such pharmacy for informing, an enrollee of any differential between the out-of-pocket cost to the enrollee under the policy or plan with respect to acquisition of the drug and the amount an individual would pay for acquisition of the drug without using any health plan or health insurance coverage.
(3) Cost-sharing limitation. A disability insurance policy or self-insured health plan that provides a prescription drug benefit or a pharmacy benefit manager that provides services under a contract with a policy or plan may not require an enrollee to pay at the point of sale for a covered prescription drug an amount that is greater than the lowest of all of the following amounts:
(a) The cost-sharing amount for the prescription drug for the enrollee under the policy or plan.
(b) The amount a person would pay for the prescription drug if the enrollee purchased the prescription drug at the dispensing pharmacy without using any health plan or health insurance coverage.
(4) Drug substitution.
(a) Except as provided in par. (b), a disability insurance policy that offers a prescription drug benefit, a self-insured health plan that offers a prescription drug benefit, or a pharmacy benefit manager acting on behalf of a disability insurance policy or self-insured health plan shall provide to an enrollee advanced written notice of a formulary change that removes a prescription drug from the formulary of the policy or plan or that reassigns a prescription drug to a benefit tier for the policy or plan that has a higher deductible, copayment, or coinsurance. The advanced written notice of a formulary change under this paragraph shall be provided no fewer than 30 days before the expected date of the removal or reassignment and shall include information on the procedure for the enrollee to request an exception to the formulary change. The policy, plan, or pharmacy benefit manager is required to provide the advanced written notice under this paragraph only to those enrollees in the policy or plan who are using the drug at the time the notification must be sent according to available claims history.
(b)
1. A disability insurance policy, self-insured health plan, or pharmacy benefit manager is not required to provide advanced written notice under par. (a) if the prescription drug that is to be removed or reassigned is any of the following:
a. No longer approved by the federal food and drug administration.
b. The subject of a notice, guidance, warning, announcement, or other statement from the federal food and drug administration relating to concerns about the safety of the prescription drug.
c. Approved by the federal food and drug administration for use without a prescription.
2. A disability insurance policy, self-insured health plan, or pharmacy benefit manager is not required to provide advanced written notice under par. (a) if, for the prescription drug that is being removed from the formulary or reassigned to a benefit tier that has a higher deductible, copayment, or coinsurance, the policy, plan, or pharmacy benefit manager adds to the formulary a generic prescription drug that is approved by the federal food and drug administration for use as an alternative to the prescription drug or a prescription drug in the same pharmacologic class or with the same mechanism of action at any of the following benefit tiers:
a. The same benefit tier from which the prescription drug is being removed or reassigned.
b. A benefit tier that has a lower deductible, copayment, or coinsurance than the benefit tier from which the prescription drug is being removed or reassigned.
(c) A pharmacist or pharmacy shall notify an enrollee in a disability insurance policy or self-insured health plan if a prescription drug for which an enrollee is filling or refilling a prescription is removed from the formulary and the policy or plan or a pharmacy benefit manager acting on behalf of a policy or plan adds to the formulary a generic prescription drug that is approved by the federal food and drug administration for use as an alternative to the prescription drug or a prescription drug in the same pharmacologic class or with the same mechanism of action at any of the following benefit tiers:
1. The same benefit tier from which the prescription drug is being removed or reassigned.
2. A benefit tier that has a lower deductible, copayment, or coinsurance than the benefit tier from which the prescription drug is being removed or reassigned.
(d) If an enrollee has had an adverse reaction to the generic prescription drug or the prescription drug in the same pharmacologic class or with the same mechanism of action that is being substituted for an originally prescribed drug, the pharmacist or pharmacy may extend the prescription order for the originally prescribed drug to fill one 30-day supply of the originally prescribed drug for the cost-sharing amount that applies to the prescription drug at the time of the substitution.
History: 2021 a. 9.

Structure Wisconsin Statutes & Annotations