1. (1) Every small employer carrier shall, as a condition of transacting business in this state with small employers, actively offer to small employers all health benefit plans it actively markets to small employers in this state, except for plans developed for health benefit trust funds.

(2) (a) A small employer carrier shall issue a health benefit plan to any eligible small employer that applies for either such plan and agrees to make the required premium payments and to satisfy the other reasonable provisions of the health benefit plan not inconsistent with sections 379.930 to 379.952.

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(b) For health benefit plans purchased on or before March 23, 2010, in the case of a small employer carrier that establishes more than one class of business pursuant to section 379.934, the small employer carrier shall maintain and issue to eligible small employers all health benefit plans in each class of business so established. A small employer carrier may apply reasonable criteria in determining whether to accept a small employer into a class of business, provided that:

a. The criteria are not intended to discourage or prevent acceptance of small employers applying for a health benefit plan;

b. The criteria are not related to the health status or claim experience of the small employer;

c. The criteria are applied consistently to all small employers applying for coverage in the class of business; and

d. The small employer carrier provides for the acceptance of all eligible small employers into one or more classes of business.

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The provisions of this paragraph shall not apply to a class of business into which the small employer carrier is no longer enrolling new small employers.

2. Health benefit plans purchased on or before March 23, 2010, covering small employers shall comply with the following provisions:

(1) A health benefit plan shall comply with the provisions of sections 376.450 and 376.451.

(2) (a) Except as provided in paragraph (d) of this subdivision, requirements used by a small employer carrier in determining whether to provide coverage to a small employer, including requirements for minimum participation of eligible employees and minimum employer contributions, shall be applied uniformly among all small employers with the same number of eligible employees applying for coverage or receiving coverage from the small employer carrier.

(b) A small employer carrier shall not require a minimum participation level greater than:

a. One hundred percent of eligible employees working for groups of three or less employees; and

b. Seventy-five percent of eligible employees working for groups with more than three employees.

(c) In applying minimum participation requirements with respect to a small employer, a small employer carrier shall not consider employees or dependents who have qualifying existing coverage in determining whether the applicable percentage of participation is met.

(d) A small employer carrier shall not increase any requirement for minimum employee participation or modify any requirement for minimum employer contribution applicable to a small employer at any time after the small employer has been accepted for coverage.

(3) (a) If a small employer carrier offers coverage to a small employer, the small employer carrier shall offer coverage to all of the eligible employees of a small employer and their dependents who apply for enrollment during the period in which the employee first becomes eligible to enroll under the terms of the plan. A small employer carrier shall not offer coverage to only certain individuals or dependents in a small employer group or to only part of the group.

(b) A small employer carrier shall not modify a health benefit plan with respect to a small employer or any eligible employee or dependent through riders, endorsements or otherwise, to restrict or exclude coverage for certain diseases or medical conditions otherwise covered by the health benefit plan.

(c) An eligible employee may choose to retain their individually underwritten health benefit plan at the time such eligible employee is entitled to enroll in a small employer health benefit plan. If the eligible employee retains their individually underwritten health benefit plan, a small employer may provide a defined contribution through the establishment of a cafeteria 125 plan under section 379.953^*. Small employers shall establish an equal amount of defined contribution for all plans. If an eligible employee retains their individually underwritten health benefit plan under this subdivision, the provisions of sections 379.930 to 379.952 shall not apply to the individually underwritten health benefit plan.

3. (1) Subject to subdivision (3) of this subsection, a small employer carrier shall not be required to offer coverage or accept applications pursuant to subsection 1 of this section in the case of the following:

(a) To a small employer, where the small employer is not physically located in the carrier’s established geographic service area;

(b) To an employee, when the employee does not live, work or reside within the carrier’s established geographic service area; or

(c) Within an area where the small employer carrier reasonably anticipates, and demonstrates to the satisfaction of the director, that it will not have the capacity within its established geographic service area to deliver service adequately to the members of such groups because of its obligations to existing group policyholders and enrollees.

(2) A small employer carrier that cannot offer coverage pursuant to paragraph (c) of subdivision (1) of this subsection may not offer coverage in the applicable area to new cases of employer groups with more than fifty eligible employees or to any small employer groups until the later of one hundred eighty days following each such refusal or the date on which the carrier notifies the director that it has regained capacity to deliver services to small employer groups.

(3) A small employer carrier shall apply the provisions of this subsection uniformly to all small employers without regard to the claims experience of a small employer and its employees and their dependents or any health status-related factor relating to such employees and their dependents.

4. A small employer carrier shall not be required to provide coverage to small employers pursuant to subsection 1 of this section for any period of time for which the director determines that requiring the acceptance of small employers in accordance with the provisions of subsection 1 of this section would place the small employer carrier in a financially impaired condition, and the small employer is applying this subsection uniformly to all small employers in the small group market in this state consistent with applicable state law and without regard to the claims experience of a small employer and its employees and their dependents or any health status-related factor relating to such employees and their dependents.