(1) All individual and group health insurance policies providing coverage for hospital, medical or surgical expenses, other than coverage limited to expenses from accidents or specific diseases, shall include coverage for treatment of inborn errors of metabolism that involve amino acid, carbohydrate and fat metabolism and for which medically standard methods of diagnosis, treatment and monitoring exist, including quantification of metabolites in blood, urine or spinal fluid or enzyme or DNA confirmation in tissues. Coverage shall include expenses of diagnosing, monitoring and controlling the disorders by nutritional and medical assessment, including but not limited to clinical visits, biochemical analysis and medical foods used in the treatment of such disorders.

(2) As used in this section, ‘medical foods’ means foods that are formulated to be consumed or administered enterally under the supervision of a physician, as defined in ORS § 677.010, that are specifically processed or formulated to be deficient in one or more of the nutrients present in typical nutritional counterparts, that are for the medical and nutritional management of patients with limited capacity to metabolize ordinary foodstuffs or certain nutrients contained therein or have other specific nutrient requirements as established by medical evaluation and that are essential to optimize growth, health and metabolic homeostasis.

(3) This section is exempt from ORS § 743A.001. [Formerly 743.726]