As used in this chapter:

(a)  “Advertisement” means any written or printed communication or any communication by means of recorded telephone messages or by radio, television, or similar communications media, published in connection with the offer or sale of plan contracts.

(b)  “Basic health care services” means all of the following:

(1)  Physician services, including consultation and referral.

(2)  Hospital inpatient services and ambulatory care services.

(3)  Diagnostic laboratory and diagnostic and therapeutic radiologic services.

(4)  Home health services.

(5)  Preventive health services.

(6)  Emergency health care services, including ambulance and ambulance transport services and out-of-area coverage. “Basic health care services” includes ambulance and ambulance transport services provided through the “911” emergency response system.

(7)  Hospice care pursuant to Section 1368.2.

(c)  “Enrollee” means a person who is enrolled in a plan and who is a recipient of services from the plan.

(d)  “Evidence of coverage” means any certificate, agreement, contract, brochure, or letter of entitlement issued to a subscriber or enrollee setting forth the coverage to which the subscriber or enrollee is entitled.

(e)  “Group contract” means a contract which by its terms limits the eligibility of subscribers and enrollees to a specified group.

(f)  “Health care service plan” or “specialized health care service plan” means either of the following:

(1)  Any person who undertakes to arrange for the provision of health care services to subscribers or enrollees, or to pay for or to reimburse any part of the cost for those services, in return for a prepaid or periodic charge paid by or on behalf of the subscribers or enrollees.

(2)  Any person, whether located within or outside of this state, who solicits or contracts with a subscriber or enrollee in this state to pay for or reimburse any part of the cost of, or who undertakes to arrange or arranges for, the provision of health care services that are to be provided wholly or in part in a foreign country in return for a prepaid or periodic charge paid by or on behalf of the subscriber or enrollee.

(g)  “License” means, and “licensed” refers to, a license as a plan pursuant to Section 1353.

(h)  “Out-of-area coverage,” for purposes of paragraph (6) of subdivision (b), means coverage while an enrollee is anywhere outside the service area of the plan, and shall also include coverage for urgently needed services to prevent serious deterioration of an enrollee’s health resulting from unforeseen illness or injury for which treatment cannot be delayed until the enrollee returns to the plan’s service area.

(i)  “Provider” means any professional person, organization, health facility, or other person or institution licensed by the state to deliver or furnish health care services.

(j)  “Person” means any person, individual, firm, association, organization, partnership, business trust, foundation, labor organization, corporation, limited liability company, public agency, or political subdivision of the state.

(k)  “Service area” means a geographical area designated by the plan within which a plan shall provide health care services.

( l)  “Solicitation” means any presentation or advertising conducted by, or on behalf of, a plan, where information regarding the plan, or services offered and charges therefor, is disseminated for the purpose of inducing persons to subscribe to, or enroll in, the plan.

(m)  “Solicitor” means any person who engages in the acts defined in subdivision ( l).

(n)  “Solicitor firm” means any person, other than a plan, who through one or more solicitors engages in the acts defined in subdivision ( l).

(o)  “Specialized health care service plan contract” means a contract for health care services in a single specialized area of health care, including dental care, for subscribers or enrollees, or which pays for or which reimburses any part of the cost for those services, in return for a prepaid or periodic charge paid by or on behalf of the subscribers or enrollees.

(p)  “Subscriber” means the person who is responsible for payment to a plan or whose employment or other status, except for family dependency, is the basis for eligibility for membership in the plan.

(q)  Unless the context indicates otherwise, “plan” refers to health care service plans and specialized health care service plans.

(r)  “Plan contract” means a contract between a plan and its subscribers or enrollees or a person contracting on their behalf pursuant to which health care services, including basic health care services, are furnished; and unless the context otherwise indicates it includes specialized health care service plan contracts; and unless the context otherwise indicates it includes group contracts.

(s)  All references in this chapter to financial statements, assets, liabilities, and other accounting items mean those financial statements and accounting items prepared or determined in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and fairly presenting the matters which they purport to present, subject to any specific requirement imposed by this chapter or by the director.

(Amended by Stats. 2002, Ch. 760, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2003.)