The purpose of this chapter is to improve the competition in the pricing and delivering of health care coverage for employers and small employers. It does so by allowing for the establishment of private competing purchasing alliances through which eligible employers or small employers can purchase health coverage. Another goal is to avoid jurisdictional confusion by clarifying the respective roles and jurisdiction of existing regulatory agencies and a purchasing alliance. This chapter provides a mechanism for employers or small employers to join together solely for the purpose of procuring health coverage and operates as an exception to existing false group or fictitious group laws.
(Added by Stats. 1996, Ch. 916, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 1997.)