Health care coverage: individual health benefit plans.

Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care and makes a willful violation of the act a crime. Existing law also provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law requires a health care service plan or health insurer, on and after October 1, 2013, to offer, market, and sell all of the plan's or insurer's health benefit plans that are sold in the individual market for policy years on or after January 1, 2014, to all individuals and dependents in each service area in which the plan or insurer provides or arranges for the provision of health care services, as specified, but requires plans and insurers to limit enrollment in individual health benefit plans to specified annual open enrollment and special enrollment periods. For purposes of these provisions, existing law defines a "health benefit plan" to mean any individual or group health care service plan contract or health insurance policy, as specified, and excludes specified plan types from this definition. This bill would correct erroneous cross-references and delete an obsolete cross-reference in this definition.