CA Health & Safety Code Section 1399.810

All health care service plan contracts offered to a federally eligible defined individual shall be renewable with respect to the individual and dependents at the option of the contractholder except in cases of:

(a)

Nonpayment of the required premiums.

(b)

Fraud or misrepresentation by the contractholder.

(c)

The plan ceases to provide or arrange for the provision of health care services for individual health care service plan contracts in this state, provided, however, that the following conditions are satisfied:

(1)

Notice of the decision to cease new or existing individual health benefit plans in this state is provided to the director and to the contractholder.

(2)

Individual health care service plan contracts subject to this chapter shall not be canceled for 180 days after the date of the notice required under paragraph (1) and for that business of a plan that remains in force, any plan that ceases to offer for sale new individual health care service plan contracts shall continue to be governed by this article with respect to business conducted under this article.

(3)

A plan that ceases to write new individual business in this state after January 1, 2001, shall be prohibited from offering for sale new individual health care service plan contracts in this state for a period of three years from the date of the notice to the director.

(d)

When the plan withdraws a health care service plan contract from the individual market, provided that the plan makes available to eligible individuals all plan contracts that it makes available to new individual business, and provided that the premium for the new plan contract complies with the renewal increase requirements set forth in Section 1399.811.

(e)

(1)On and after January 1, 2014, and except as provided in paragraph (2), this section shall apply only to individual grandfathered health plan contracts previously issued pursuant to this section to federally eligible defined individuals.

(2)

If Section 5000A of the Internal Revenue Code, as added by Section 1501 of PPACA, is repealed or amended to no longer apply to the individual market, as defined in Section 2791 of the federal Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. Section 300gg-91), paragraph (1) shall become inoperative on the date of that repeal or amendment and this section shall apply to health care service plan contracts issued, amended, or renewed on or after that date.

(3)

For purposes of this subdivision, the following definitions apply:

(A)

“Grandfathered health plan” has the same meaning as that term is defined in Section 1251 of PPACA.

(B)

“PPACA” means the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111-148), as amended by the federal Health Care Education and Reconciliation Act of 2010 (Public Law 111-152), and any rules, regulations, or guidance issued pursuant to that law.