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- Alaska Statutes.
- Title 21. Insurance
- Chapter 56. Small Employer Health Insurance
- Section 120. Premium Rate Restrictions; Disclosures; Reports; Confidentiality.
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Section 110. Applicability.
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Section 130. Renewability of Coverage. [Repealed, Sec. 115 Ch 81 SLA 1997].
AS 21.56.120. Premium Rate Restrictions; Disclosures; Reports; Confidentiality.
- (a) A premium rate for a health care insurance plan subject to this chapter is subject to the following provisions:
- (1) the premium rate charged or offered during a rating period to small employers with similar case characteristics as
determined by the insurer for the same or similar coverage may not vary from the applicable index rate by more than 35
percent of the applicable index rate;
- (2) regarding a health care insurance plan issued before July 1, 1993, if premium rates charged or offered for the same or
similar coverage under a health care insurance plan covering a small employer with similar case characteristics as
determined by the insurer exceeds the applicable index rate by more than 35 percent, an increase in premium rates for a
new rating period may not exceed the sum of
- (A) a percentage change in the base premium rate measured from the first day of the prior rating period to the first day
of the new rating period; plus
- (B) adjustments due to changes in case characteristics or plan design of the small employer, as determined by the insurer;
- (3) the percentage increase in the premium rate charged to a small employer for a new rating period may not exceed the sum
of the following:
- (A) the percentage change in the new business premium rate measured from the first day of the prior rating period to the
first day of the new rating period; in the case of a health benefit plan into which the small employer insurer is no
longer enrolling new small employers, the small employer insurer shall use the percentage change in the base premium
rate, provided that the change does not exceed, on a percentage basis, the change in the new business premium rate for
the most similar health care insurance plan into which the small employer insurer is actively enrolling new small
employers;
- (B) any adjustment, not to exceed 15 percent annually and adjusted pro rata for rating periods of less than one year, due
to the claim experience, health status, or duration of coverage of the employees or dependents of the small employer as
determined from the small employer insurer's rate manual; and
- (C) any adjustment due to change in coverage or change in the case characteristics of the small employer, as determined
from the small employer insurer's rate manual;
- (4) adjustments in rates for claim experience, health status, and duration of coverage may not be charged to individual
employees or dependents; any adjustment must be applied uniformly to the rates charged for all employees and dependents
of the small employer;
- (5) a premium rate for a health care insurance plan shall comply with the requirements of this section
- (6) a small employer insurer may use industry as a case characteristic in establishing premium rates, provided that the
rate factor associated with an industry classification may not vary by more than 15 percent from the arithmetic average
of the highest and lowest rate factors associated with all industry classifications;
- (7) a small employer insurer shall
- (A) apply rating factors, including case characteristics, consistently with respect to all small employers; rating factors
must produce premiums for identical groups that differ only by amounts attributable to plan design and do not reflect
differences due to the nature of the groups assumed to select particular health care insurance plans; and
- (B) treat all health care insurance plans issued or renewed in the same calendar month as having the same rating period;
- (8) for the purposes of this subsection, a health care insurance plan that contains a restricted provider network may not
be considered similar coverage to a health care insurance plan that does not use a restricted provider network if the
restriction of benefits to network providers results in substantial differences in claim costs;
- (9) a small employer insurer may not use case characteristics, other than age, sex, industry, geographic area, family
composition, and group size without prior approval of the director.
- (b) In connection with the offering for sale of a health care insurance plan to a small employer, a small employer insurer
shall, as part of its solicitation and sales materials, disclose in a manner understandable by the average small
employer and sufficient to reasonably inform small employers of their rights and obligations under the health care
insurance plan
- (1) the extent that premium rates for a specified small employer are established or adjusted based upon the actual or
expected variation in claims costs or actual or expected variation in health status of the employees of the small
employer and their dependents; and
- (2) the provisions of the health care insurance plan
- (A) concerning the small employer insurer's right to change premium rates and factors that affect changes in premium
rates;
- (B) relating to renewability of policies and contracts;
- (C) relating to any preexisting condition provision; and
- (D) concerning the benefits and premiums available under all health care insurance plans for which the small employer
qualifies.
- (c) A small employer insurer shall
- (1) maintain at its principal place of business a complete and detailed description of its rating practices and renewal
underwriting practices, including information and documentation that demonstrate that its rating methods and practices
are based upon commonly accepted actuarial assumptions and are in accordance with sound actuarial principles;
- (2) file with the director annually, on or before March 15, an actuarial certification certifying that the insurer is in
compliance with this chapter and AS 21.54.100
- 21.54.500 and that the rating methods of the small
employer insurer are actuarially sound; the certification shall be in a form and manner, and must contain information,
as specified by the director; a copy of the certification shall be retained by the small employer insurer at its
principal place of business;
- (3) make the information and documentation described in (1) of this subsection available to the director upon request; the
information is confidential and not subject to disclosure, except
- (A) as agreed to by the small employer insurer;
- (B) as ordered by a court of competent jurisdiction; or
- (C) the director may use the information or other discovered information in a judicial or administrative proceeding.
- (d) The director may adopt regulations to implement the provisions of this section and to ensure that rating practices
used by small employer insurers are consistent with the purposes of this chapter, including ensuring that differences
in rates charged for health care insurance plans by small employer insurers are reasonable and reflect objective
differences in plan design, not including differences due to the nature of the groups assumed to select particular
health care insurance plans.
- (e) In determining the premium rates for a small employer covered under an association health insurance policy authorized
under AS 21.54.060(7), a small employer insurer may
not use the claims experience of the small employer while the employer was covered under another health insurance
policy and may use only that underwriting information obtained through the insurer's normal application process for new
small employer groups that are not written under the association plan.
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