BILL NUMBER: AB 1449	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member De Leon

                        FEBRUARY 27, 2009

   An act to amend Section 1389.8 of the Health and Safety Code, and
to amend Section 10119.3 of the Insurance Code, relating to health
care coverage.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1449, as introduced, De Leon. Health care coverage:
solicitation.
    Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of
1975, provides for the licensure and regulation of health care
service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care and makes a
willful violation of the act a crime. Existing law also provides for
the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance.
Existing law specifies that certain persons who assist applicants in
submitting an application to a health care service plan or health
insurer have a duty to assist those applicants in providing answers
to health questions accurately and completely and requires those
persons to make a specified attestation on the written application.
   This bill would instead impose that requirement on certain persons
who assist applicants in completing an application for an individual
health care service plan contract or individual health insurance
policy.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 1389.8 of the Health and Safety Code is amended
to read:
   1389.8.  (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, an agent,
broker, solicitor, solicitor firm, or  sales 
representative who assists an applicant in  submitting
  completing  an application  to a
  for an individual  health care service plan 
contract  has the duty to assist the applicant in providing
answers to health questions accurately and completely.
   (b) An agent, broker, solicitor, solicitor firm, or  sales
 representative who assists an applicant in  submitting
  completing  an application  to a health
care service plan   for an individual health care
service plan contract  shall attest on the written application
to both of the following:
   (1) That to the best of his or her knowledge, the information on
the application is complete and accurate.
   (2) That he or she explained to the applicant, in
easy-to-understand language, the risk to the applicant of providing
inaccurate information and that the applicant understood the
explanation.
   (c) If, in an attestation required by subdivision (b), a declarant
willfully states as true any material fact he or she knows to be
false, that person shall, in addition to any applicable penalties or
remedies available under current law, be subject to a civil penalty
of up to ten thousand dollars ($10,000). Any public prosecutor may
bring a civil action to impose that civil penalty. These penalties
shall be paid to the Managed Care Fund.
   (d)  A   An application for an individual
 health care service plan  application  
contract  shall include a statement advising declarants of the
civil penalty authorized under this section.
  SEC. 2.  Section 10119.3 of the Insurance Code is amended to read:
   10119.3.  (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, an agent
 or   ,  broker  , or sales
representative  who assists an applicant in  submitting
  completing  an application  to a
  for an individual  health  insurer
  insurance policy  has the duty to assist the
applicant in providing answers to health questions accurately and
completely.
   (b) An agent  or   ,  broker  , or
sales representative  who assists an applicant in 
submitting   completing  an application  to
a health insurer   for an individual health insurance p
  olicy  shall attest on the written application to
both of the following:
   (1) That to the best of his or her knowledge, the information on
the application is complete and accurate.
   (2) That he or she explained to the applicant, in
easy-to-understand language, the risk to the applicant of providing
inaccurate information and that the applicant understood the
explanation.
   (c) If, in an attestation required by subdivision (b), a declarant
willfully states as true any material fact he or she knows to be
false, that person shall, in addition to any applicable penalties or
remedies available under current law, be subject to a civil penalty
of up to ten thousand dollars ($10,000). Any public prosecutor may
bring a civil action to impose that civil penalty. These penalties
shall be paid to the Insurance Fund.
   (d)  A   An application for an individual
 health insurance  application   policy
 shall include a statement advising declarants of the civil
penalty authorized under this section.