SECTION 3.3503. Definitions

The following words and terms, when used in this subchapter, have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

(1) Allowable expense--Except as otherwise provided in §3.3505 of this title (relating to Allowable Expenses), or where a statute requires a different definition, any health care expense, including coinsurance or copayments and without reduction for any applicable deductible, that is covered in full or in part by any of the plans covering the person.

(2) Allowed amount--The amount of a billed charge that a carrier determines to be covered for services provided by a noncontracted health care provider or physician. The allowed amount includes the carrier's payment and any applicable deductible, copayment, or coinsurance amounts for which the insured is responsible.

(3) Birthday--Refers only to the month and day in a calendar year and does not include the year in which the individual is born.

(4) Carrier--An entity authorized under the Insurance Code to provide coverage subject to this subchapter, including an insurer, health maintenance organization, group hospital service corporation, or stipulated premium company.

(5) Certificate holder--An insured or enrollee who is covered other than as a dependent under a group plan or a group-type plan.

(6) Claim--A request that benefits be provided or paid. The benefits claimed may be in the form of:

(A) services, including supplies;

(B) payment for all or a portion of the expenses incurred;

(C) a combination of subparagraphs (A) and (B) of this paragraph; or

(D) an indemnification.

(7) Closed panel plan--A plan that provides health benefits to covered persons primarily in the form of services through a panel of health care providers and physicians that have contracted with or are employed by the plan, and that excludes benefits for services provided by other health care providers or physicians, except in cases of emergency or referral by a panel member.

(8) Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA)--Coverage provided under a right of continuation under federal law.

(9) Contract--Refers to an insurance policy, insurance certificate, or health maintenance organization evidence of coverage.

(10) Coordination of benefits (COB)--A provision establishing an order in which plans pay their claims and permitting secondary plans to reduce their benefits so that the combined benefits of all plans do not exceed total allowable expenses.

(11) Custodial parent--

(A) the parent with the right to designate the primary residence of a child by a court order under the Family Code or other applicable law; or

(B) in the absence of a court order, the parent with whom the child resides more than one-half of the calendar year without regard to any temporary visitation.

(12) Group-type contract--A contract that is not available to the public and is obtained and maintained only because of membership in or a connection with a particular organization or group, including blanket coverage.

(13) High-deductible health plan--A high-deductible health plan under §223 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended by the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003, and Insurance Code Chapter 1653.

(14) Hospital indemnity benefits--Benefits not related to expenses incurred. This term does not include reimbursement-type benefits even if they are designed or administered to give the insured the right to elect indemnity-type benefits at the time of claim.

(15) Plan--A form of coverage with which coordination is allowed. For purposes of this subchapter:

(A) plan includes:

(i) any contract to which this subchapter applies;

(ii) limited benefit policies under §3.3079 of this title (relating to Minimum Standards for Limited Benefit Coverage), excluding Disability Income Protection Coverage under §3.3075 of this title (relating to Minimum Standards for Disability Income Protection Coverage);

(iii) uninsured arrangements of group or group-type coverage;

(iv) the medical benefits coverage in automobile insurance contracts;

(v) Medicare or other governmental benefits; as permitted by law; and

(vi) group insurance contracts, individual insurance contracts, and subscriber contracts that pay or reimburse for the cost of dental care.

(B) plan does not include:

(i) the Texas Health Insurance Pool as described in Insurance Code Chapter 1506;

(ii) workers' compensation insurance coverage;

(iii) hospital confinement indemnity coverage or other fixed indemnity;

(iv) specified disease coverage;

(v) supplemental benefit coverage under §3.3080 of this title (relating to Supplemental Coverage) and as described in Insurance Code Chapter 1203;

(vi) accident-only coverage;

(vii) specified accident coverage;

(viii) school accident-type coverages that cover students for accidents only, including athletic injuries, either on a "24-hour basis" or on a "to and from school" basis;

(ix) benefits provided in long-term care insurance contracts for nonmedical services, for example, personal care, adult day care, homemaker services, assistance with activities of daily living, respite care, and custodial care or for contracts that pay a fixed daily benefit without regard to expenses incurred or the receipt of services;

(x) Medicare supplement policies;

(xi) a state plan under Medicaid;

(xii) a governmental plan which, by law, provides benefits that are in excess of those of any private insurance plan or other nongovernmental plan; or

(xiii) an individual accident and health insurance policy that is designed to fully integrate with other policies through a variable deductible.

(16) Policyholder--The primary insured named in an individual health insurance policy or evidence of coverage.

(17) Primary plan--A plan whose benefits for a person's health care coverage must be determined without taking the existence of any other plan into consideration. A plan is a primary plan if:

(A) the plan either has no order of benefit determination rules, or its rules differ from those permitted by this subchapter; or

(B) all plans that cover the person use the order of benefit determination rules required by this subchapter, and under those rules, the plan determines its benefits first.

(18) Secondary plan--A plan that is not a primary plan.

Source Note: The provisions of this §3.3503 adopted to be effective March 25, 2014, 39 TexReg 2086