(a) (1) The director shall require the use by each plan of disclosure forms or materials containing information regarding the benefits, services, and terms of the plan contract as the director may require, so as to afford the public, subscribers, and enrollees with a full and fair disclosure of the provisions of the plan in readily understood language and in a clearly organized manner. Health care service plans shall present the materials in the uniform manner established by the department pursuant to paragraph (2) so as to facilitate comparisons between plan contracts of the same or other types of plans. Nothing contained in this chapter shall preclude the director from permitting the disclosure form to be included with the evidence of coverage or plan contract.

(2) The department shall develop standard templates for the disclosure form and evidence of coverage. The standard templates for the disclosure form and evidence of coverage may be consolidated into a single standard template. The standard template or templates may include standard definitions, notice and explanatory language, benefit and limitation descriptions, and any other information or formatting in the template that the director determines, consistent with the goals of this section. The department shall consult with the Department of Insurance and interested stakeholders in developing standard templates under this section.

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(b) The disclosure form shall provide for at least the following information, in concise and specific terms, relative to the plan, together with additional information as may be required by the director, in connection with the plan or plan contract:

(1) The principal benefits and coverage of the plan, including coverage for acute care and subacute care.

(2) The exceptions, reductions, and limitations that apply to the plan.

(3) The full premium cost of the plan.

(4) Any copayment, coinsurance, or deductible requirements that may be incurred by the member or the member’s family in obtaining coverage under the plan.

(5) The terms under which the plan may be renewed by the plan member, including any reservation by the plan of any right to change premiums.

(6) A statement that the disclosure form is a summary only, and that the plan contract itself should be consulted to determine governing contractual provisions. The first page of the disclosure form shall contain a notice that conforms with all of the following conditions:

(A) (i) States that the evidence of coverage discloses the terms and conditions of coverage.

(ii) States, with respect to individual plan contracts, small group plan contracts, and any other group plan contracts for which health care services are not negotiated, that the applicant has a right to view the evidence of coverage prior to enrollment, and, if the evidence of coverage is not combined with the disclosure form, the notice shall specify where the evidence of coverage can be obtained prior to enrollment.

(B) Includes a statement that the disclosure and the evidence of coverage should be read completely and carefully and that individuals with special health care needs should read carefully those sections that apply to them.

(C) Includes the plan’s telephone number or numbers that may be used by an applicant to receive additional information about the benefits of the plan or a statement where the telephone number or numbers are located in the disclosure form.

(D) For individual contracts, and small group plan contracts as defined in Article 3.1 (commencing with Section 1357), the disclosure form shall state where the health plan benefits and coverage matrix is located.

(E) Is printed in type no smaller than that used for the remainder of the disclosure form and is displayed prominently on the page.

(7) A statement as to when benefits shall cease in the event of nonpayment of the prepaid or periodic charge and the effect of nonpayment upon an enrollee who is hospitalized or undergoing treatment for an ongoing condition.

(8) To the extent that the plan permits a free choice of provider to its subscribers and enrollees, the statement shall disclose the nature and extent of choice permitted and the financial liability that is, or may be, incurred by the subscriber, enrollee, or a third party by reason of the exercise of that choice.

(9) A summary of the provisions required by subdivision (g) of Section 1373, if applicable.

(10) If the plan utilizes arbitration to settle disputes, a statement of that fact.

(11) A summary of, and a notice of the availability of, the process the plan uses to authorize, modify, or deny health care services under the benefits provided by the plan, pursuant to Sections 1363.5 and 1367.01.

(12) A description of any limitations on the patient’s choice of primary care physician, specialty care physician, or nonphysician health care practitioner, based on service area and limitations on the patient’s choice of acute care hospital care, subacute or transitional inpatient care, or skilled nursing facility.

(13) General authorization requirements for referral by a primary care physician to a specialty care physician or a nonphysician health care practitioner.

(14) Conditions and procedures for disenrollment.

(15) A description as to how an enrollee may request continuity of care as required by Section 1373.96 and request a second opinion pursuant to Section 1383.15.

(16) Information concerning the right of an enrollee to request an independent review in accordance with Article 5.55 (commencing with Section 1374.30).

(17) A notice as required by Section 1364.5.

(c) (1) As of July 1, 1999, the director shall require each plan offering a contract to an individual or small group to provide with the disclosure form for individual and small group plan contracts a uniform health plan benefits and coverage matrix containing the plan’s major provisions in order to facilitate comparisons between plan contracts. The uniform matrix shall include the following category descriptions together with the corresponding copayments and limitations in the following sequence:

(A) Deductibles.

(B) Lifetime maximums.

(C) Professional services.

(D) Outpatient services.

(E) Hospitalization services.

(F) Emergency health coverage.

(G) Ambulance services.

(H) Prescription drug coverage.

(I) Durable medical equipment.

(J) Mental health services.

(K) Chemical dependency services.

(L) Home health services.

(M) Other.

(2) The following statement shall be placed at the top of the matrix in all capital letters in at least 10-point boldface type:

THIS MATRIX IS INTENDED TO BE USED TO HELP YOU COMPARE COVERAGE BENEFITS AND IS A SUMMARY ONLY. THE EVIDENCE OF COVERAGE AND PLAN CONTRACT SHOULD BE CONSULTED FOR A DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF COVERAGE BENEFITS AND LIMITATIONS.

(3) (A) A health care service plan contract subject to Section 2715 of the federal Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. § 300gg-15), shall satisfy the requirements of this subdivision by providing the uniform summary of benefits and coverage required under Section 2715 of the federal Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. § 300gg-15) and any rules or regulations issued thereunder. A health care service plan that issues the uniform summary of benefits referenced in this paragraph shall do both of the following:

(i) Ensure that all applicable benefit disclosure requirements specified in this chapter and in Title 28 of the California Code of Regulations are met in other health plan documents provided to enrollees under the provisions of this chapter.

(ii) Consistent with applicable law, advise applicants and enrollees, in a prominent place in the plan documents referenced in subdivision (a), that enrollees are not financially responsible in payment of emergency care services, in any amount that the health care service plan is obligated to pay, beyond the enrollee’s copayments, coinsurance, and deductibles as provided in the enrollee’s health care service plan contract.

(B) Commencing October 1, 2016, the uniform summary of benefits and coverage referenced in this paragraph shall constitute a vital document for the purposes of Section 1367.04. Not later than July 1, 2016, the department shall develop written translations of the template uniform summary of benefits and coverage for all language groups identified by the State Department of Health Care Services in all plan letters as of August 27, 2014, for translation services pursuant to § 14029.91 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, except for any language group for which the United States Department of Labor has already prepared a written translation. Not later than July 1, 2016, the department shall make available on its internet website written translations of the template uniform summary of benefits and coverage developed by the department, and written translations prepared by the United States Department of Labor, if available, for any language group to which this subparagraph applies.

(C) Subdivision (d) shall not apply to a health care service plan contract subject to subparagraph (A).

(4) A health care service plan may satisfy the requirements of this subdivision for the dental services offered under a contract subject to Section 1363.04 by providing the uniform benefit disclosure benefits and coverage disclosure matrix consistent with the requirements of that section.

(d) Nothing in this section shall prevent a plan from using appropriate footnotes or disclaimers to reasonably and fairly describe coverage arrangements in order to clarify any part of the matrix that may be unclear.

(e) All plans, solicitors, and representatives of a plan shall, when presenting any plan contract for examination or sale to an individual prospective plan member, provide the individual with a properly completed disclosure form, as prescribed by the director pursuant to this section for each plan so examined or sold.

(f) In the case of group contracts, the completed disclosure form and evidence of coverage shall be presented to the contractholder upon delivery of the completed health care service plan agreement.

(g) Group contractholders shall disseminate copies of the completed disclosure form to all persons eligible to be a subscriber under the group contract at the time those persons are offered the plan. If the individual group members are offered a choice of plans, separate disclosure forms shall be supplied for each plan available. Each group contractholder shall also disseminate or cause to be disseminated copies of the evidence of coverage to all applicants, upon request, prior to enrollment and to all subscribers enrolled under the group contract.

(h) In the case of conflicts between the group contract and the evidence of coverage, the provisions of the evidence of coverage shall be binding upon the plan notwithstanding any provisions in the group contract that may be less favorable to subscribers or enrollees.

(i) In addition to the other disclosures required by this section, every health care service plan and any agent or employee of the plan shall, when presenting a plan for examination or sale to any individual purchaser or the representative of a group consisting of 25 or fewer individuals, disclose in writing the ratio of premium costs to health services paid for plan contracts with individuals and with groups of the same or similar size for the plan’s preceding fiscal year. A plan may report that information by geographic area, provided the plan identifies the geographic area and reports information applicable to that geographic area.

(j) Subdivision (c) shall not apply to any coverage provided by a plan for the Medi-Cal program or the Medicare Program pursuant to Title XVIII and Title XIX of the federal Social Security Act.

(k) Medi-Cal managed care plan contracts entered into with the State Department of Health Care Services pursuant to Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 14000) or Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 14200) of Part 3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code shall not be required to use the standard templates developed by the department pursuant to this section.

(l) Notwithstanding Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, the department may implement, interpret, or make specific this section by means of issuing and modifying templates and all-plan letters or similar instructions, without taking regulatory action.

(Amended by Stats. 2023, Ch. 42, Sec. 13. (AB 118) Effective July 10, 2023.)