1.     a.    As a condition of transacting business in this state with small employers, every small employer carrier shall actively offer small employers all health benefit plans it actively markets to small employers in this state.

b.     (1) Subject to subdivision a of subsection 1, a small employer carrier shall issue any health benefit plan to any eligible small employer that applies for the plan and agrees to make the required premium payments and to satisfy the other reasonable provisions of the health benefit plan not inconsistent with this chapter and section 26.1-36-37.2. However, a carrier may not be required to issue a health benefit plan to a self-employed individual who is covered by, or is eligible for coverage under, a health benefit plan offered by an employer.

(2) In the case of a small employer carrier that establishes more than one class of business pursuant to section 26.1-36.3-03, the small employer carrier shall maintain and issue to eligible small employers all health benefit plans it actively markets to small employers. A small employer carrier may apply reasonable criteria in determining whether to accept a small employer into a class of business if the criteria are not intended to discourage or prevent acceptance of small employers applying for a health benefit plan, are not related to a health status-related factor of the small employer, and are applied consistently to all small employers applying for coverage in the class of business. The small employer carrier shall provide for the acceptance of all eligible small employers into one or more classes of business. This paragraph does not apply to a class of business into which the small employer carrier is no longer enrolling new small businesses.

2.    Health benefit plans covering small employers must comply with the following:

a.    A health benefit plan may impose a pre-existing condition exclusion only if:

(1) The exclusion relates to a condition, regardless of the cause of the condition, for which medical advice, diagnosis, care, or treatment was recommended or received within the six-month period immediately preceding the effective date of coverage; (2) The exclusion extends for a period of not more than twelve months after the effective date of coverage; (3) The exclusion does not relate to pregnancy as a pre-existing condition; and

(4) The exclusion does not treat genetic information as a pre-existing condition in the absence of a diagnosis of a condition related to such information.

b.    A small employer carrier shall reduce any time period applicable to a pre-existing condition exclusion or limitation period by the aggregate of periods the individual was covered by qualifying previous coverage, if any, if the qualifying previous coverage was continuous until at least sixty-three days prior to the effective date of the new coverage. Any waiting period applicable to an individual for coverage under a group health benefit plan may not be taken into account in determining the period of continuous coverage. This subdivision does not preclude application of an employer waiting period applicable to all new enrollees under the health benefit plan. Small employer carriers shall credit coverage by either a standard method or an alternative method. The commissioner shall adopt rules for crediting coverage under the standard and alternative method. These rules must be consistent with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 [Pub. L. 104-191; 110 Stat. 1936; 29 U.S.C. § 1181 et seq.] and any federal rules adopted pursuant thereto.

c.    A health benefit plan may exclude coverage for late enrollees for the greater of eighteen months or for an eighteen-month pre-existing condition exclusion; however, if both a period of exclusion from coverage and a pre-existing condition exclusion are applicable to a late enrollee, the combined period may not exceed eighteen months from the date the individual enrolls for coverage under the health benefit plan.

d.     (1) Except as provided in this subdivision, a small employer carrier shall apply requirements used to determine whether to provide coverage to a small employer, including requirements for minimum participation of eligible employees and minimum employer contributions, uniformly among all small employers with the same number of eligible employees who are applying for coverage or receiving coverage from the small employer carrier.

(2) A small employer carrier may vary application of minimum participation requirements and minimum employer contribution requirements only by the size of the small employer group.

(3)    (a)    Except as provided in subparagraph b, a small employer carrier, in applying minimum participation requirements with respect to a small employer, may not consider employees or dependents who have qualifying existing coverage in determining whether the applicable percentage of participation is met. For purposes of determining the applicable percentage of participation under this subparagraph only, individual health benefit plans are not included in the definition of “qualifying existing coverage” under section 26.1-36.3-01.

(b)    With respect to a small employer, with ten or fewer eligible employees, a small employer carrier may consider employees or dependents who have coverage under another health benefit plan sponsored by the small employer in applying minimum participation requirements.

(4) A small employer carrier may not increase any requirement for minimum employee participation or any requirement for minimum employer contribution applicable to a small employer at any time after the small employer has been accepted for coverage.

e.     (1) If a small employer carrier offers coverage to a small employer, the small employer carrier shall offer coverage to all of the eligible employees of a small employer and their dependents. A small employer carrier may not offer coverage only to certain individuals in a small employer group or only to part of the group, except in the case of late enrollees as provided in subdivision c.

(2) Except as permitted under subsection 1 and this subsection, a small employer carrier may not modify a health benefit plan with respect to a small employer or any eligible employee or dependent through riders, endorsements, or otherwise, to restrict or exclude coverage for certain diseases or medical conditions otherwise covered by the health benefit plan.

3.     a.    A small employer carrier offering coverage through a network plan is not required to offer coverage or accept applications under subsection 1 to a small employer if:

(1) The small employer does not have eligible individuals who live, work, or reside in the service area for such network plan; or

(2) The small employer does have eligible individuals who live, work, or reside in the service area for the network plan, but the carrier has demonstrated, if required, to the commissioner that it will not have the capacity to deliver services adequately to enrollees of any additional groups because of its obligations to existing group contractholders and enrollees, and that it is applying this paragraph uniformly to all employers without regard to the claims experience of those employers and their employees and their dependents or any health status-related factor relating to such employees and dependents.

b.    A small employer carrier, upon denying health insurance coverage in any service area in accordance with paragraph 2 of subdivision a, may not offer coverage in the small employer market within the service area for a period of one hundred eighty days after the date the coverage is denied.

4.    A small employer carrier is not required to provide coverage to small employers pursuant to subsection 1 for any period of time for which the commissioner determines    that the carrier does not have the financial reserves to underwrite additional coverage and is applying this section uniformly without regard to the claims experience of small employers or any health status-related factor relating to employees and their dependents. A small employer carrier denying coverage in accordance with this section may not offer coverage in connection with a group health benefit plan in the small group market for a period of one hundred eighty days after the health coverage is denied or until the carrier has demonstrated to the commissioner sufficient financial reserves to underwrite financial coverage, whichever is later.

5.    Subsection 1 does not apply to health benefit plans offered by a small employer carrier if the carrier makes the health benefit plans available in the small employer market only through one or more associations.