Virginia Code 38.2-4306: Evidence of coverage and charges for health care services
A. 1. Each subscriber shall be entitled to evidence of coverage under a health care plan.
Terms Used In Virginia Code 38.2-4306
- Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
- Commission: means the State Corporation Commission. See Virginia Code 38.2-100
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Copayment: means an amount an enrollee is required to pay in order to receive a specific health care service. See Virginia Code 38.2-4300
- Deductible: means an amount an enrollee is required to pay out-of-pocket before the health care plan begins to pay the costs associated with health care services. See Virginia Code 38.2-4300
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Evidence of coverage: means any certificate or individual or group agreement or contract issued in conjunction with the certificate, agreement or contract, issued to a subscriber setting out the coverage and other rights to which an enrollee is entitled. See Virginia Code 38.2-4300
- Health care plan: means any arrangement in which any person undertakes to provide, arrange for, pay for, or reimburse any part of the cost of any health care services. See Virginia Code 38.2-4300
- Health care services: means the furnishing of services to any individual for the purpose of preventing, alleviating, curing, or healing human illness, injury, or physical disability. See Virginia Code 38.2-4300
- Health maintenance organization: means any person who undertakes to provide or arrange for one or more health care plans. See Virginia Code 38.2-4300
- in writing: include any representation of words, letters, symbols, numbers, or figures, whether (i) printed or inscribed on a tangible medium or (ii) stored in an electronic or other medium and retrievable in a perceivable form and whether an electronic signature authorized by Chapter 42. See Virginia Code 1-257
- Subscriber: means a contract holder, an individual enrollee, or the enrollee in an enrolled family who is responsible for payment to the health maintenance organization or on whose behalf such payment is made. See Virginia Code 38.2-4300
2. No evidence of coverage, or amendment to it, shall be delivered or issued for delivery in this Commonwealth until a copy of the form of the evidence of coverage, or amendment to it, has been filed with and approved by the Commission, subject to the provisions of subsection C of this section. Any evidence of coverage for enrollees in the plans administered by the Department of Medical Assistance Services that provide benefits pursuant to Title XIX or Title XXI of the Social Security Act, as amended, is excluded from the provisions of this section.
3. No evidence of coverage shall contain provisions or statements which are unjust, unfair, untrue, inequitable, misleading, deceptive or misrepresentative.
4. An evidence of coverage shall contain a clear and complete statement if a contract, or a reasonably complete summary if a certificate, of:
a. The health care services and any insurance or other benefits to which the enrollee is entitled under the health care plan;
b. Any limitations on the services, kind of services, benefits, or kind of benefits to be provided, including any deductible or copayment feature, or both;
c. Where and in what manner information is available as to how services may be obtained;
d. The total amount of payment for health care services and any indemnity or service benefits that the enrollee is obligated to pay with respect to individual contracts, or an indication whether the plan is contributory or noncontributory for group certificates;
e. A description of the health maintenance organization‘s method for resolving enrollee complaints. Any subsequent change may be evidenced in a separate document issued to the enrollee; and
f. A list of providers and a description of the service area which shall be provided with the evidence of coverage, if such information is not given to the subscriber at the time of enrollment.
B. Pursuant to this subsection:
1. No schedule of charges or amendment to the schedule of charges for enrollee coverage for health care services may be used in conjunction with any health care plan until a copy of the schedule, or its amendment, has been filed with the Commission. Any schedule of charges or amendment to the schedule of charges for enrollees in the plans administered by the Department of Medical Assistance Services that provide benefits pursuant to Title XIX or Title XXI of the Social Security Act, as amended, is excluded from the provisions of this subsection.
2. The charges may be established for various categories of enrollees based upon sound actuarial principles, provided that charges applying to an enrollee in a group health plan shall not be individually determined based on the status of his health. A certification on the appropriateness of the charges, based upon reasonable assumptions, may be required by the Commission to be filed along with adequate supporting information. This certification shall be prepared by a qualified actuary or other qualified professional approved by the Commission.
C. The Commission shall, within a reasonable period, approve any form if the requirements of subsection A of this section are met. It shall be unlawful to issue a form until approved. If the Commission disapproves a filing, it shall notify the filer. The Commission shall specify the reasons for its disapproval in the notice. A written request for a hearing on the disapproval may be made to the Commission within 30 days after notice of the disapproval. If the Commission does not disapprove any form within 30 days of the filing of such form, it shall be deemed approved unless the filer is notified in writing that the waiting period is extended by the Commission for an additional 30 days. Filing of the form means actual receipt by the Commission.
D. The Commission may require the submission of any relevant information it considers necessary in determining whether to approve or disapprove a filing made under this section.
E. The provisions of this section shall not apply in any instance in which the provisions of this section are inconsistent or in conflict with a provision of Article 6 (§ 38.2-3438 et seq.) of Chapter 34.
1980, c. 720, § 38.1-869; 1986, c. 562; 1997, cc. 807, 913; 2003, cc. 752, 767; 2004, c. 185; 2006, c. 866; 2013, c. 751; 2014, c. 814.