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An Act To Reduce Minimum Participation to 60% for Group Health Insurance
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 24-A MRSA §2808-B, sub-§4, ¶A,  as corrected by RR 2001, c. 1, §32, is amended to read:
 
A. Any small group health plan offered to any eligible group or subgroup must be offered to all eligible groups that meet the carrier's minimum participation requirements, which may not exceed 75%60%, to all eligible employees and their dependents in those groups. In determining compliance with minimum participation requirements, eligible employees and their dependents who have existing health care coverage may not be considered in the calculation. If an employee declines coverage because the employee has other coverage, any dependents of that employee who are not eligible under the employee's other coverage are eligible for coverage under the small group health plan. A carrier may deny coverage under a managed care plan, as defined by section 4301-A:
 
(1) To employers who have no employees who live, reside or work within the approved service area of the plan; and
 
(2) To employers if the carrier has demonstrated to the superintendent's satisfaction that:
 
(a) The carrier does not have the capacity to deliver services adequately to additional enrollees within all or a designated part of its service area because of its obligations to existing enrollees; and
 
(b) The carrier is applying this provision uniformly to individuals and groups without regard to any health-related factor.
 
A carrier that denies coverage in accordance with this subparagraph may not enroll individuals residing within the area subject to denial of coverage, or groups or subgroups within that area for a period of 180 days after the date of the first denial of coverage.
 
SUMMARY
Under current law, a carrier's minimum participation requirements for a small group health plan may not exceed 75%. This bill reduces the minimum participation requirement to 60%.