GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
1995 SESSION
CHAPTER 669
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1. G.S. 58-50-130(a)(2) reads as rewritten:
"(2) In determining
whether a preexisting-conditions provision applies to an eligible employee or
to a dependent, all health benefit plans shall credit the time the person was
covered under a previous group health benefit plan if the previous
coverage was continuous to a date not more than 60 days before the effective
date of the new coverage, exclusive of any applicable waiting period under the
plan. As used in this subdivision with respect to previous coverage, the
meaning of 'health benefit plan' is not limited to plans subject to this
act under G.S. 58-50-115. the definition in G.S. 58-50-115, but includes
any health benefit plan provided by a health insurer, as that term is defined
in G.S. 58-51-115(a), or any government plan or program providing health
benefits or health care."
Sec. 2. G.S. 58-3-173(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a) As used in this section:
(1) 'Health benefit plan'
means a plan covering a group an employer group of persons and in
the form of: an accident and health insurance policy or certificate; a
nonprofit hospital or medical service corporation contract; a health
maintenance organization subscriber contract; a plan provided by a multiple
employer welfare arrangement; or a plan provided by another benefit
arrangement, to the extent permitted by the Employee Retirement Income Security
Act of 1974, as amended, or by other federal law or regulation. 'Health benefit
plan' does not mean any of the following kinds of insurance:
a. Accident
b. Credit
c. Disability income
d. Long-term or nursing home care
e. Medicare supplement
f. Specified disease
g. Dental or vision
h. Coverage issued as a supplement to liability insurance
i. Workers' compensation
j. Medical payments under automobile or homeowners
k. Hospital income or indemnity
l. Insurance under which benefits are payable with or without regard to fault and that is statutorily required to be contained in any liability policy or equivalent self-insurance.
(2) 'Insurer' includes an entity subject to Articles 49, 65, or 67 of this Chapter."
Sec. 3. This act is effective upon ratification.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 21st day of June, 1996.
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Dennis A. Wicker
President of the Senate
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Harold J. Brubaker
Speaker of the House of Representatives