§ 44-6916. Health carrier; health benefit plan; restrictions; duties; preexisting condition exclusion; late enrollee; when.

(1) A health carrier shall not: (a) Offer coverage to only certain individuals in an employer group or to only a part of the group except in the case of late enrollees; (b) Require any individual to pay a premium which is greater than such premium for a similarly situated individual enrolled in the health benefit plan on the basis of any health-status-related factor in relation to the individual or a dependent; or (c) Establish rules for eligibility and continued eligibility of any individual to enroll under the terms of the health benefit plan based on a health-status-related factor of the individual or a dependent. (2) A health benefit plan shall not deny, exclude, or limit benefits for a covered individual for losses incurred more than twelve months, or eighteen months in the case of a late enrollee, following the enrollment date of the individual's coverage due to a preexisting condition or the first date of the waiting period for enrollment if that date is earlier than the enrollment date. Genetic information shall not be treated as a preexisting condition unless there is a diagnosis of the condition related to such information. A health benefit plan shall not define a preexisting condition more restrictively than as defined in section 44-6915. A health benefit plan shall not impose any preexisting condition exclusion relating to pregnancy as a preexisting condition. (3) A health benefit plan shall not impose any preexisting condition exclusion: (a) To an individual who, as of the last day of the thirty-day period beginning with the date of birth, is covered under creditable coverage, and the individual had creditable coverage that was continuous to a date not more than sixty-three days prior to the enrollment date of new coverage; or (b) To a child less than eighteen years of age who is adopted or placed for adoption and who, as of the last day of the thirty-day period beginning on the date of the adoption or placement for adoption, is covered under creditable coverage, and the child had creditable coverage that was continuous to a date not more than sixty-three days prior to the enrollment date of new coverage. (4) A health carrier shall waive any time period applicable to a preexisting condition exclusion or limitation period with respect to particular services in a health benefit plan for the aggregate period of time an individual was previously covered by creditable coverage that provided benefits with respect to such services if the creditable coverage was continuous to a date not more than sixty-three days prior to the enrollment date of new coverage. The period of continuous coverage shall not include any waiting period or affiliation period for the effective date of the new coverage applied by the plan sponsor or the health carrier. This subsection shall not preclude application of any waiting period applicable to all new enrollees under the health benefit plan. (5)(a) A health carrier shall permit an eligible employee or dependent, who requests enrollment following the open enrollment opportunity, to enroll, and the eligible employee or dependent shall not be considered a late enrollee if the eligible employee or dependent: (i) Was covered under another health benefit plan at the time the eligible employee or dependent was eligible to enroll; (ii) Stated in writing at the time of the open enrollment period that coverage under another health benefit plan was the reason for declining enrollment but only if the health benefit plan or health carrier required such a written statement and provided a notice of the consequences of such written statement; (iii) Has lost coverage under another health benefit plan as a result of the termination of employment, the termination of the other health benefit plan's coverage, death of a spouse, legal separation, or divorce or was under a continuation-of-coverage policy or contract available under federal law and the coverage was exhausted; and (iv) Requests enrollment within thirty days after the termination of coverage under the other health benefit plan. (b)(i) If a health carrier issues a health benefit plan and makes coverage available to a dependent of an eligible employee and such dependent becomes a dependent of the eligible employee through marriage, birth, adoption, or placement for adoption, then such health benefit plan shall provide for a dependent special enrollment period during which the dependent may be enrolled under the health benefit plan and, in the case of the birth or adoption of a child, the spouse of an eligible employee may be enrolled if otherwise eligible for coverage. (ii) A dependent special enrollment period shall be a period of not less than thirty days and shall begin on the later of (A) the date such dependent coverage is available or (B) the date of the marriage, birth, adoption, or placement for adoption. (iii) If an eligible employee seeks to enroll a dependent during the first thirty days of such a dependent special enrollment period, the coverage of the dependent shall become effective: (A) In the case of marriage, not later than the first day of the first month beginning after the date the completed request for enrollment is received; (B) In the case of the birth of a dependent, as of the date of birth; and (C) In the case of a dependent's adoption or placement for adoption, the date of such adoption or placement for adoption. (6)(a) A health maintenance organization which offers health insurance coverage in connection with a group health plan and which does not impose any preexisting condition exclusion with respect to any particular coverage option may impose an affiliation period for such coverage option but only if: (i) Such period is applied uniformly without regard to any health-status-related factors; and (ii) Such period does not exceed two months or, in the case of a late enrollee, three months. (b) An affiliation period under a group health plan shall run concurrently with any waiting period under the group health plan. (c) A health maintenance organization may use alternative methods, from those described in subdivision (6)(a) of this section, to address adverse selection, as approved by the director. History: Laws 1997, LB 862, § 16; Laws 2002, LB 1139, § 46.