(a) (1) Notwithstanding any provision of this chapter, a participating health, dental, or vision plan that is licensed and in good standing as required by subdivision (b) of Section 12693.36 may provide application assistance directly to an applicant acting on behalf of an eligible person who telephones, writes, or contacts the plan in person at the plan’s place of business, or at a community public awareness event that is open to all participating plans in the county, or at any other site approved by the board, and who requests application assistance.

(2) A participating health, dental, or vision plan may also provide application assistance directly to an applicant only under the following conditions:

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(A) The assistance is provided upon referral from a government agency, school, or school district.

(B) The applicant has authorized the government agency, school, or school district to allow a health, dental, or vision plan to contact the applicant with additional information on enrolling in free or low-cost health care.

(C) The State Department of Health Care Services approves the applicant authorization form in consultation with the board.

(D) The plan may not actively solicit referrals and may not provide compensation for the referrals.

(E) If a family is already enrolled in a health plan, the plan that contacts the family cannot encourage the family to change health plans.

(F) The board amends its marketing guidelines to require that when a government agency, school, or school district requests assistance from a participating health, dental, or vision plan to provide application assistance, that all plans in the area shall be invited to participate.

(G) The plan abides by the board’s marketing guidelines.

(b) A participating health, dental, or vision plan may provide application assistance to an applicant who is acting on behalf of an eligible or potentially eligible child in any of the following situations:

(1) The child is enrolled in a Medi-Cal managed care plan and the participating plan becomes aware that the child’s eligibility status has or will change and that the child will no longer be eligible for Medi-Cal. In those instances, the plan shall inform the applicant of the differences in benefits and requirements between the Healthy Families Program and the Medi-Cal program.

(2) The child is enrolled in a Healthy Families Program managed care plan and the participating plan becomes aware that the child’s eligibility status has changed or will change and that the child will no longer be eligible for the Healthy Families Program. When it appears a child may be eligible for Medi-Cal benefits, the plan shall inform the applicant of the differences in benefits and requirements between the Medi-Cal program and the Healthy Families Program.

(3) The participating plan provides employer-sponsored coverage through an employer and an employee of that employer who is the parent or legal guardian of the eligible or potentially eligible child.

(4) The child and his or her family are participating through the participating plan in COBRA continuation coverage or other group continuation coverage required by either state or federal law and the group continuation coverage will expire within 60 days, or has expired within the past 60 days.

(5) The child’s family, but not the child, is participating through the participating plan in COBRA continuation coverage or other group continuation coverage required by either state or federal law, and the group continuation coverage will expire within 60 days, or has expired within the past 60 days.

(c) A participating health, dental, or vision plan employee or other representative that provides application assistance shall complete a certified application assistant training class approved by the State Department of Health Care Services in consultation with the board. The employee or other representative shall in all cases inform an applicant verbally of his or her relationship with the participating health plan. In the case of an in-person contact, the employee or other representative shall provide in writing to the applicant the nature of his or her relationship with the participating health plan and obtain written acknowledgment from the applicant that the information was provided.

(d) A participating health, dental, or vision plan that provides application assistance may not do any of the following:

(1) Directly, indirectly, or through its agents, conduct door-to-door marketing or telephone solicitation.

(2) Directly, indirectly, or through its agents, select a health plan or provider for a potential applicant. Instead, the plan shall inform a potential applicant of the choice of plans available within the applicant’s county of residence and specifically name those plans and provide the most recent version of the program handbook.

(3) Directly, indirectly, or through its agents, conduct mail or in-person solicitation of applicants for enrollment, except as specified in subdivision (b), using materials approved by the board.

(e) A participating health, dental, or vision plan that provides application assistance pursuant to this section is not eligible for an application assistance fee otherwise available pursuant to Section 12693.32, and may not sponsor a person eligible for the program by paying his or her family contribution amounts or copayments, and may not offer applicants any inducements to enroll, including, but not limited to, gifts or monetary payments.

(f) A participating health, dental, or vision plan may assist applicants acting on behalf of subscribers who are enrolled with the participating plan in completing the program’s annual eligibility review package in order to allow those applicants to retain health care coverage.

(g) Each participating health, dental, or vision plan shall submit to the board a plan for application assistance. All scripts and materials to be used during application assistance sessions shall be approved by the board and the State Department of Health Care Services.

(h) Each participating health, dental, or vision plan shall provide each applicant with the toll-free telephone number for the Healthy Families Program.

(i) When deemed appropriate by the board, the board may refer a participating health, dental, or vision plan to the Department of Managed Health Care or the State Department of Health Care Services, as applicable, for the review or investigation of its application assistance practices.

(j) The board shall evaluate the impact of the changes required by this section and shall provide a biennial report to the Legislature on or before March 1 of every other year. To prepare these reports, the State Department of Health Care Services, in cooperation with the board, shall code all the application packets used by a managed care plan to record the number of applications received that originated from managed care plans. The number of applications received that originated from managed care plans shall also be reported on the board’s Web site. In addition, the board shall periodically survey those families assisted by plans to determine if the plans are meeting the requirements of this section, and if families are being given ample information about the choice of health, dental, or vision plans available to them.

(k) Nothing in this section shall be seen as mitigating a participating health, dental, or vision plan’s responsibility to comply with all federal and state laws, including, but not limited to, Section 1320a-7b of Title 42 of the United States Code.

(Amended by Stats. 2007, Ch. 483, Sec. 38. Effective January 1, 2008.)