Enrolled Bill Summary

House Bill 897 amends the Insurance Code to prohibit a purchasing cooperative from limiting or restricting employer or employee choice among health benefit plans, or from determining an employee’s membership in the cooperative, based on the employee’s health status, duration of coverage, or similar characteristics of a group or of any group member. The bill defines a small employer health coalition as a private purchasing cooperative composed solely of small employers and provides that such a coalition is considered a single small employer under provisions of the Insurance Code. The bill provides that a small employer health benefit plan can offer coverage to a small employer if at least 75 percent of the small employer's eligible employees elect to be covered, which is provided by existing law, or if a lower participation level is offered by the carrier and a sufficient number of eligible employees elect to be covered. The bill prohibits a small employer carrier or agent from influencing a small employer’s decision regarding membership in a particular small employer health coalition because of the health status or claim experience of the employer's eligible employees and dependents.