California Code of Regulations
Title 10 - Investment
Chapter 5.7 - Voluntary Alliance Uniting Employers Purchasing Pool (the Health Insurance Plan of California)
Article 2 - Participation Requirements, Application and Enrollment
Section 2699.6109 - Participation Requirements for Guaranteed Associations

(1) Send a notice to all members of the association, as well as any other person known to the association who although not an association member is in a category of persons who pursuant to (a)(9) below will be eligible for coverage through the guaranteed association, at their last known address that they may elect coverage through the guaranteed association, and that if they meet the qualifications to be a member employer, they may elect to provide coverage for their member employees through the guaranteed association. The notice shall state in bold face type that failure to elect coverage during the enrollment period permits the program to impose, at the time of the employer or person's later decision to elect coverage, an exclusion from coverage until the next open enrollment period, as well as, depending on the participating carrier selected by the person, a six months preexisting condition exclusion once enrolled, unless the individual member can demonstrate that he or she had other employer health coverage during the time of the enrollment period, or has been directed by court order to provide coverage for a spouse or minor child and the person has applied within thirty (30) days of losing that coverage. In addition to the initial notice, such notice shall be provided to all members who later join the guaranteed association and persons who become members of a sponsored category within 30 days of the date they become members of the guaranteed association or sponsored category.

(2) Provide all potentially qualified member employers and individual members with at least thirty (30) calendar days to decide whether to apply for coverage through the program.

(3) Maintain for a period of one (1) year at the guaranteed association's principal place of business a copy of any notice required by (1) above as well as a list detailing to whom the notice was mailed and when.

(4) Not offer coverage anywhere but in the program.

(5) Provide coverage in the program to at least 1000 persons except for the following:

(6) Maintain at the guaranteed association's principal place of business and provide to the program upon request documents that verify that:

(7) For a guaranteed association that has provided coverage to its members through the mechanism of a trust, the guaranteed association shall provide at the program's request documentation that membership in the trust is coincidental with membership in the guaranteed association or that individual members are retired members or the spouse or dependents of a deceased member.

(8) Provide to the program documents that illustrate that the member employers and individual members purchasing coverage through the program are bona fide members of the guaranteed association or that individual members are retired members or a spouse of a deceased member, and provide to the program the beginning date of membership for each member employer and individual member.

(9) Determine what categories of persons who are not otherwise association members the guaranteed association will sponsor for coverage as members. These may only include employees of members, association staff, retired members, retired employees of members, and surviving spouses and dependents of deceased members. The guaranteed association shall commit to the program that the specified offering will continue until the guaranteed association's annual requalification.