SB 1034 Summary

• Prohibits health care service plans and health insurers offering group coverage from imposing waiting or affiliation periods on employees and dependents, effective for plan years on or after January 1, 2014.

• Eliminates the previous allowance for up to 60-day waiting periods for group health care service plan contracts and group health insurance policies as a condition of employment.

• Modifies notification requirements for grandfathered small employer health plans to inform employees they may be excluded from eligibility until the next open enrollment period, rather than for a specified time period.

• Applies to both group and individual health benefit plans, with specific provisions for nongrandfathered and grandfathered plans under federal PPACA rules.

• Makes willful violations by health care service plans a crime, creating a state-mandated local program with no reimbursement requirement.