2020 New Hampshire Revised Statutes
Title XXXVII - Insurance
Title 415-E - Multiple-Employer Welfare Arrangements
Section 415-E:3 - General Eligibility.

[RSA 415-E:3 effective until 60 days after certification by the insurance commissioner that 29 C.F.R. section 2510.3-5(b) is valid and that issues raised in State of New York v. United States Department of Labor have been resolved, but not later than December 1, 2021; see also RSA 415-E:3 set out below.]     415-E:3 General Eligibility. –
I. To meet the requirements for approval and to maintain a multiple-employer welfare arrangement, an arrangement shall be:
(a) Nonprofit.
(b) Established by a trade association, industry association, political subdivision of the state, religious organization, or professional association of employers or professionals which has a constitution or bylaws and which has been organized and maintained in good faith for a continuous period of one year for purposes other than that of obtaining or providing insurance.
(c) Operated pursuant to a trust agreement by a board of trustees which shall have complete fiscal control over the arrangement and which shall be responsible for all operations of the arrangement. The trustees selected shall be owners, partners, officers, directors, or employees of one or more employers in the arrangement. A trustee may not be an owner, officer, or employee of the administrator or service company of the arrangement. The trustees shall have the authority to approve applications of association members for participation in the arrangement and to contract with an authorized administrator or service company to administer the day-to-day affairs of the arrangement.
(d) Neither offered nor advertised to the public generally.
(e) Operated in accordance with sound actuarial principles.
II. The arrangement shall issue to each covered employee a policy contract, certificate, summary plan description, or other evidence of the benefits and coverages provided. This evidence of the benefits and coverages provided shall contain in boldfaced print in a conspicuous location, the following statement: "The benefits and coverages described herein are provided through a trust fund established and funded by a group of employers." Arrangements in existence prior to January 1, 1992, that have previously issued benefit descriptions to employees may meet the disclosure requirements under this chapter by issuing to each employee such additional written material necessary to meet the requirements of this paragraph.
II-a. Each arrangement shall provide to each covered employee, on request, a written statement of the dollar amount of allowable benefit for any procedure which is requested by the appropriate procedure code.
II-b. No arrangement shall extend preexisting condition exclusions beyond a period of 9 consecutive months after the date of enrollment of the person's health coverage.
III. Each arrangement shall maintain specific excess insurance with a retention level determined in accordance with sound actuarial principles and approved by the commissioner.
IV. Each arrangement shall establish and maintain appropriate loss reserves determined in accordance with sound actuarial principles and approved by the commissioner.
V. The commissioner shall not grant or continue approval until such time as the arrangement replaces any trustee found by the commissioner, upon the presentation of sufficient evidence:
(a) To be incompetent;
(b) To be guilty of, or to have pled guilty or no contest to a felony, or a crime involving moral turpitude;
(c) To have had any type of insurance license revoked in this or any other state;
(d) To have improperly manipulated assets, accounts, or specific excess insurance or to have otherwise acted in bad faith.
VI. To qualify for and retain approval to transact business, an arrangement shall make all contracts with administrators or service companies available for inspection by the department initially, and thereafter upon reasonable notice.
VII. Failure to maintain compliance with applicable eligibility or filing requirements established by this section shall be grounds for suspension or revocation of approval of an arrangement, provided, however, that such arrangement shall have 60 days after notification by the commissioner to take such action necessary to correct the deficiency.

[RSA 415-E:3 effective 60 days after certification by the insurance commissioner that 29 C.F.R. section 2510.3-5(b) is valid and that issues raised in State of New York v. United States Department of Labor have been resolved, but not later than December 1, 2021; see also RSA 415-E:3 above.]

415-E:3 General Eligibility; Pathway I and Pathway II. –
To meet the requirements for approval and to maintain a multiple employer welfare arrangement, an association not exempted under RSA 415-E:2, II shall be approved either as a self-insured bona fide pathway I association or as a bona fide pathway II association as follows:
I. An association seeking approval as a self-insured bona fide pathway I association shall:
(a) Meet the definition in RSA 415-E:1, II of a bona fide pathway I association.
(b) Sponsor health coverage that is self-insured.
(c) Be nonprofit.
(d) Be established by a trade association, industry association, political subdivision of the state, religious organization, or professional association of employers or professionals which has a constitution or bylaws and which has been organized and maintained in good faith for a continuous period of one year for purposes other than that of obtaining or providing insurance.
(e) Be operated pursuant to a trust agreement by a board of trustees which shall have complete fiscal control over the arrangement and which shall be responsible for all operations of the arrangement. The trustees selected shall be owners, partners, officers, directors, or employees of one or more employers in the arrangement. A trustee may not be an owner, officer, or employee of the administrator or service company of the arrangement. The trustees shall have the authority to approve applications of association members for participation in the arrangement and to contract with an authorized administrator or service company to administer the day-to-day affairs of the arrangement.
(f) Be neither offered nor advertised to the public generally.
(g) Be operated in accordance with sound actuarial principles.
II. An association seeking approval as a bona fide pathway II association shall:
(a) Meet the definition in RSA 415-E:1, III of a bona fide pathway II association.
(b) Have a formal organizational structure with a governing body, bylaws, and other similar indications of formality, and complies with RSA 415-E:3, I-a(e) and with all other organizational requirements under this chapter and, if the association offers fully insured coverage, under RSA 420-M.
(c) Have its functions and activities controlled by its employer members, and the association's employer members that participate in the group health plan shall control the plan, both in form and in substance.
(d) Have a commonality of interest with its employer members, such that one or both of the following standards are met, in a manner that is not a subterfuge for discrimination as prohibited under RSA 415-E:1-e:
(1) The employers are in the same trade, industry, line of business, or profession; or
(2) Each employer has a principal place of business in the same region.
(e) Have at least one substantial business purpose unrelated to offering and providing health coverage or other employee benefits to its employer members and their employees.
(f) Have each employer member of the association participating in the group health plan who is a person acting directly as an employer of at least one employee who is a participant covered under the plan.
(g) Not make health coverage through the association's group health plan available other than to:
(1) An employee of a current employer member of the association; and
(2) A beneficiary of an individual eligible under subparagraph (1).
(h) Not be a health insurance issuer, or owned or controlled by a health insurance issuer, or by a subsidiary or affiliate of a health insurance issuer, other than to the extent such entities participate in the association in their capacity as employer members of the association.

Source. 1991, 246:1. 1993, 102:2. 2007, 289:11, eff. Jan. 1, 2008. 2019, 346:401.