Virginia Code 32.1-137.1: Definitions
As used in this and the following article, unless the context indicates otherwise:
Terms Used In Virginia Code 32.1-137.1
- Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
- Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
- Person: means an individual, corporation, partnership, or association or any other legal entity. See Virginia Code 32.1-3
- State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
- Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
“Agent” or “insurance agent,” when used without qualification, means an individual, partnership, limited liability company, or corporation that solicits, negotiates, procures or effects contracts of insurance or annuity in this Commonwealth.
“Bureau of Insurance” means the State Corporation Commission acting pursuant to Title 38.2.
“Complaint” means any written communication from a covered person primarily expressing a grievance.
“Covered person” means an individual residing in the Commonwealth, whether a policyholder, subscriber, enrollee, or member of a managed care health insurance plan, who is entitled to health care services or benefits provided, arranged for, paid for or reimbursed pursuant to a managed care health insurance plan under Title 38.2.
“Managed care health insurance plan” means an arrangement for the delivery of health care in which a health carrier as defined in § 38.2-5800 undertakes to provide, arrange for, pay for, or reimburse any of the costs of health care services for a covered person on a prepaid or insured basis which (i) contains one or more incentive arrangements, including any credentialing requirements intended to influence the cost or level of health care services between the health carrier and one or more providers with respect to the delivery of health care services; and (ii) requires or creates benefit payment differential incentives for covered persons to use providers that are directly or indirectly managed, owned, under contract with or employed by the health carrier. Any health maintenance organization as defined in § 38.2-4300 or health carrier that offers preferred provider contracts or policies as defined in § 38.2-3407 or preferred provider subscription contracts as defined in § 38.2-4209 shall be deemed to be offering one or more managed care health insurance plans. For the purposes of this definition, the prohibition of balance billing by a provider shall not be deemed a benefit payment differential incentive for covered persons to use providers who are directly or indirectly managed, owned, under contract with or employed by the health carrier. A single managed care health insurance plan may encompass multiple products and multiple types of benefit payment differentials; however, a single managed care health insurance plan shall encompass only one provider network or set of provider networks.
“Managed care health insurance plan licensee” means a health carrier subject to licensure by the Bureau of Insurance under Title 38.2 who is responsible for a managed care health insurance plan in accordance with Chapter 58 of Title 38.2.
“Person” means any association, aggregate of individuals, business, company, corporation, individual, joint-stock company, Lloyds type of organization, other organization, partnership, receiver, reciprocal or inter-insurance exchange, trustee or society.
1998, c. 891.