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If you sell medigap in Maryland, did you know this?:
If you write medigap plans in Maryland, are you submitting business under this rule? If not, have you ever heard of it?
I have yet to find a single insurance company that is aware of this--even though it has been around since 2003!
I had one FMO domiciled in MD tell me he vaguely remembers it but that "nobody practices it anymore" since CMS rules trump state rules. I asked him if there was something in writing that repealed this law--No. CMS guidelines state that GI for this scenario guarantees plans A, B, C, and F only. Well, this law does not violate that--it adds to it.
What say you Maryland agents?
BULLETIN
To: Carriers Selling Medicare Supplements in Maryland
Re: New Guarantee Issue Rights for Certain Medicare Eligible Individuals
Date: April 25, 2003
Bulletin: Life and Health # 03-04
Chapter 2 of the Acts of the General Assembly of 2003 (House Bill 1100) was signed into law as
an emergency measure by Governor Ehrlich on April 8, 2003.
Effective April 8, 2003, insurers and nonprofit health service plans that sell Medicare
supplement ("Medigap") policies in Maryland are required to guarantee issue all the policies that
it sells to any individual who meets the following criteria:
1. The individual is enrolled under an employee welfare benefit plan that
provides health benefits;
2. The employee welfare benefit plan in which the individual is enrolled
terminates;
3. Solely because of eligibility for Medicare, the individual is not eligible for the
tax credit for health insurance costs under §35 of the Internal Revenue Code
and enrollment in the Maryland Health Insurance Plan under § 14-501(f) of
the Insurance Article, as enacted by Section 1 of Chapter 2 of the Acts of
2003; and
4. The individual applies for the Medigap policy no later than 63 days after the
employee welfare benefit plan terminates.
To: Carriers Selling Medicare Supplements in Maryland
Re: New Guarantee Issue Rights for Certain Medicare Eligible Individuals
Date: April 25, 2003
Bulletin: Life and Health # 03-04
Chapter 2 of the Acts of the General Assembly of 2003 (House Bill 1100) was signed into law as
an emergency measure by Governor Ehrlich on April 8, 2003.
Effective April 8, 2003, insurers and nonprofit health service plans that sell Medicare
supplement ("Medigap") policies in Maryland are required to guarantee issue all the policies that
it sells to any individual who meets the following criteria:
1. The individual is enrolled under an employee welfare benefit plan that
provides health benefits;
2. The employee welfare benefit plan in which the individual is enrolled
terminates;
3. Solely because of eligibility for Medicare, the individual is not eligible for the
tax credit for health insurance costs under §35 of the Internal Revenue Code
and enrollment in the Maryland Health Insurance Plan under § 14-501(f) of
the Insurance Article, as enacted by Section 1 of Chapter 2 of the Acts of
2003; and
4. The individual applies for the Medigap policy no later than 63 days after the
employee welfare benefit plan terminates.
If you write medigap plans in Maryland, are you submitting business under this rule? If not, have you ever heard of it?
I have yet to find a single insurance company that is aware of this--even though it has been around since 2003!
I had one FMO domiciled in MD tell me he vaguely remembers it but that "nobody practices it anymore" since CMS rules trump state rules. I asked him if there was something in writing that repealed this law--No. CMS guidelines state that GI for this scenario guarantees plans A, B, C, and F only. Well, this law does not violate that--it adds to it.
What say you Maryland agents?
