The Florida Senate

¹641.31073  Prohibiting discrimination against individual participants and beneficiaries based on health status.--

(1)  Subject to subsection (2), a health maintenance organization that offers group health insurance coverage may not establish rules for eligibility, including continued eligibility, of an individual to enroll under the terms of the contract based on any of the following health-status-related factors in relation to the individual or a dependent of the individual:

(a)  Health status.

(b)  Medical condition, including physical and mental illnesses.

(c)  Claims experience.

(d)  Receipt of health care.

(e)  Medical history.

(f)  Genetic information.

(g)  Evidence of insurability, including conditions arising out of acts of domestic violence.

(h)  Disability.

(2)  Subsection (1) does not:

(a)  Require a health maintenance organization to provide particular benefits other than those provided under the terms of such plan or coverage.

(b)  Prevent such a plan or coverage from establishing limitations or restrictions on the amount, level, extent, or nature of the benefits or coverage for similarly situated individuals enrolled in the plan or coverage.

(3)  For purposes of subsection (1), rules for eligibility to enroll under a contract include rules for defining any applicable affiliation or waiting periods of enrollment.

(4)(a)  A health maintenance organization that offers health insurance coverage may not require any individual, as a condition of enrollment or continued enrollment under the contract, to pay a premium or contribution that is greater than such premium or contribution for a similarly situated individual enrolled under the contract on the basis of any health-status-related factor in relation to the individual or to an individual enrolled under the contract as a dependent of the individual.

(b)  This subsection does not:

1.  Restrict the amount that an employer may be charged for coverage under a group health insurance contract.

2.  Prevent a health maintenance organization offering group health insurance coverage from establishing premium discounts or rebates or modifying otherwise applicable copayments or deductibles in return for adherence to programs of health promotion and disease prevention.

History.--s. 27, ch. 97-179.

¹Note.--Section 34(2), ch. 97-179, provides that:

"(2)  Except as provided in section 627.6561(9), (10), and (11), and section 641.31071(10), (11), and (12), Florida Statutes, in the case of a group health plan or group health insurance contract maintained pursuant to one or more collective bargaining agreements between employee representatives and one or more employers which is ratified before this act becomes a law, sections 627.6561, 627.65615, 627.65625, 627.6571, 627.6699, 641.31071, 641.31072, 641.31073, and 641.31074, Florida Statutes, except for section 627.6561(8)(b), Florida Statutes, as amended or created by this act, apply to policies or contracts with plan years that begin on or after the later of:

"(a)  The date on which the last of any collective bargaining agreement that relates to the plan terminates, determined without regard to any extension thereof, which is agreed to after the date this act becomes a law; or

"(b)  July 1, 1997."