(1) "Basic health insurance plan" means a lower cost health insurance plan developed pursuant to § 38-71-1420.

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(2) "Board" means the board of directors of the program established pursuant to § 38-71-1410.

(3) "Director" means the Director of the Department of Insurance of this State.

(4) "Committee" means the advisory committee to the commissioner referred to in § 38-71-1420.

(5) "Dependent" means a spouse, an unmarried child under the age of nineteen years, an unmarried child who is a full-time student between the ages of nineteen and twenty-two and who is financially dependent upon the parent, and an unmarried child of any age who is medically certified as disabled and dependent upon the parent.

(6) "Eligible employee" means an employee:

(a) as defined in § 38-71-710(1) or § 38-71-840(7) who works on a full-time basis and has a normal workweek of thirty or more hours; or

(b) who is a licensed real estate person engaged in the sale, leasing, or rental of real estate for a licensed real estate broker on a straight commission basis, who has signed a valid independent contractor agreement with the broker who works on a full-time basis and has a normal workweek of thirty or more hours.

(7) "Employer contribution rule" means a requirement relating to the minimum level or amount of employer contribution toward the premium for enrollment of participants and beneficiaries.

(8) "Group participation rule" means a requirement relating to the minimum number of participants or beneficiaries that must be enrolled in relation to a specified percentage or number of eligible individuals or employees of an employer.

(9) "Health group cooperative" or "cooperative" means a private purchasing cooperative composed of small employers formed under this article.

(10)(a) "Health insurance plan" or "plan" means any hospital or medical policy or certificate, major medical expense insurance, hospital or medical service plan contract, or health maintenance organization subscriber contract that provides benefits consisting of medical care provided directly through insurance or reimbursement, or otherwise and including items and services paid for medical care. It includes the entire contract between the insurer and the insured, including the policy, riders, endorsements, and the application, if attached.

(b) "Health insurance plan" does not include: accident only; blanket accident and sickness; specified disease or hospital indemnity or other fixed indemnity insurance if offered as independent noncoordinated benefits; credit; limited scope dental or vision if offered separately; Medicare supplement if offered as a separate policy; long-term care if offered separately; disability income insurance; coverage issued as a supplement to liability or other liability insurance, including general liability insurance and automobile liability insurance; coverage designed only to provide payments on a per diem, fixed indemnity, or nonexpense incurred basis; coverage for Medicare or Medicaid services pursuant to a contract with state or federal government; workers’ compensation or similar insurance; automobile medical payment insurance; coverage for on-site medical clinics; or other similar coverage specified in regulations under which benefits for medical care are secondary or incidental to other insurance benefits.

(11) "Insurer" means an entity that provides health insurance in this State. For the purposes of this article, insurer includes an insurance company, a health maintenance organization, and any other entity providing a plan of health insurance or health benefits subject to state insurance regulation, including multiple employer self-insured health plans licensed pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 41 of Title 38.

(12) "Medical care" means amounts paid for:

(a) the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease or amounts paid for the purpose of affecting a structure or function of the body;

(b) amounts paid for transportation primarily for and essential to medical care referred to in subitem (a); and

(c) amounts paid for insurance covering medical care referred to in subitems (a) and (b).

(13) "Network plan" means a health insurance plan issued by an insurer under which the financing and delivery of medical care, including items and services paid for as medical care, are provided, in whole or in part, through a defined set of providers under contract with the insurer.

(14) "Plan of operation" means the plan of operation of the program established pursuant to § 38-71-1410.

(15) "Program" means the South Carolina Small Employer Insurer Reinsurance Program pursuant to § 38-71-1410.

(16) "Reinsuring insurer" means a small employer insurer participating in the reinsurance program pursuant to § 38-71-1410.

(17) "Risk-assuming insurer" means a small employer insurer whose application is approved by the commissioner pursuant to § 38-71-1390.

(18) "Small employer" means, in connection with a health insurance plan with respect to a calendar year and a plan year, any person, firm, corporation, partnership, association, or employer, as defined in Section 3(5) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, that is actively engaged in business that, on at least fifty percent of its working days during the preceding calendar year, employed no more than fifty eligible employees or employed an average of not more than fifty employees on business days during the preceding calendar year and who employs at least one employee on the first day of the plan year.

(a) in determining the number of eligible employees, companies that are affiliated companies or that are eligible to file a combined tax return for purposes of state taxation or that are treated as a single employer under subsections (b), (c), (m), or (o) of Section 414 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 are considered one employer; and

(b) in the case of an employer which was not in existence throughout the preceding calendar year, the determination of whether that employer is a small or large employer must be based on the average number of employees that it reasonably is expected to employ on business days in the current calendar year; and

(c) any reference in this article to an employer includes a reference to any predecessor of the employer.

(19) "Small employer insurer" means an insurer that offers health insurance plans covering eligible employees of one or more small employers in this State.

(20) "Standard health insurance plan" means a health insurance plan developed pursuant to § 38-71-1420.