[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4008 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4008

  To amend title XXVII of the Public Health Service Act to permit the 
 exception from the guaranteed issue requirement for coverage offered 
  only through associations to be applied separately to parts of the 
            small group market based upon size of employers.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              June 5, 1998

  Mr. Barcia introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                         Committee on Commerce

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                                 A BILL


 
  To amend title XXVII of the Public Health Service Act to permit the 
 exception from the guaranteed issue requirement for coverage offered 
  only through associations to be applied separately to parts of the 
            small group market based upon size of employers.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. PERMITTING APPLICATION OF THE BONA FIDE ASSOCIATION 
              EXCEPTION TO THE GUARANTEED ISSUE REQUIREMENT FOR 
              DIFFERENT EMPLOYERS BASED UPON THE SIZE OF EMPLOYERS.

    (a) In General.--Section 2711(f) of the Public Health Service Act 
(42 U.S.C. 300gg-11(f)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 
``A health insurance issuer may elect to apply the previous sentence 
separately for different groups of employers within the small group 
market for programs in existence prior to June 30, 1997, if such 
programs are based upon the number of employees employed by such 
employers.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall be 
effective as if included in the enactment of the Health Insurance 
Portability and Accountability Act of 1996.
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