Current through September 24, 2024
(1) Plan.
(a) A "Plan" is a form of coverage with which
coordination is allowed. The definition of Plan in the group contract must
state the types of coverage which will be considered in applying the COB
provision of that contract. The right to include a type of coverage is limited
by the rest of this subsection.
(b)
This regulation uses the term "Plan". However, a group contract may instead,
use "Program" or some other term.
(c) "Plan" shall not include individual or
family:
1. insurance contracts;
2. subscriber contracts;
3. coverage through Health Maintenance
Organizations (HMOs); or
4.
coverage under other prepayment, group practice and individual practice plans;
except as provided in (d) below:
(d) "Plan" may include:
1. group insurance and group subscriber
contracts;
2. uninsured
arrangements of group or group-type coverage;
3. group or group-type coverage through HMOs
and other prepayment, group practice and individual practice plans;
and
4. group-type contracts.
Group-type contracts are contracts which are not available to
the general public and can be obtained and maintained only because of
membership in or connection with a particular organization or group. Group-type
contracts answering this description may be included in the definition of Plan,
at the option of the insurer or the service provider and its contract-client,
whether or not uninsured arrangements or individual contract forms are used and
regardless of how the group-type coverage is designated (for example,
"franchise" or "blanket"). The use of payroll deductions by the employee,
subscriber or member to pay for the coverage in not sufficient, of itself, to
make an individual contract part of a group-type plan.
(e) "Plan" may include the medical
benefits coverage in group-type, and individual automobile "no-fault" and
traditional automobile "fault" type contracts.
(f) "Plan" may include Medicare or other
governmental benefits. That part of the definition of "Plan" may be limited to
the hospital, medical and surgical benefits of the governmental program.
However, "Plan" shall not include a state plan under Medicaid, and shall not
include a law or plan when, by law, its benefits are excess to those of any
private insurance plan or other non-governmental plan.
(g) "Plan" shall not be construed to include
group or group-type hospital indemnity benefits of $100 per day or less; but
may be construed to include the amount by which group or group-type hospital
indemnity benefits exceed $100 per day.
''Hospital indemnity benefits'' are those not related to
expenses incurred. The 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.
(h) ''Plan'' shall not include school
accident-type coverages. These cover grammar, high school, and college students
only, including athletic injuries, either on a 24-hour basis or on a ''to and
from school'' basis.
(2)
This Plan. In a COB provision, this term refers to the part of the group
contract providing the health care benefits to which the COB provisions applies
and which may be reduced on account of the benefits of other Plans. Any other
part of the group contract providing health care benefits is separate from this
Plan.
A group contract may apply one COB provision to certain of
its benefits (such as dental benefits, coordinating only with like benefits),
and may apply other separate COB provisions to coordinate other
benefits.
(3) A Primary
Plan is one 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 either (a) or (b) below is true. There may be more
than one Primary Plan (for example, two Plans which have no order of benefit
determination rules).
(a) The Plan either has
no order of benefit determination rules, or it has rules which differ from
those permitted by this regulation.
(b) All plans which cover the person use the
order of benefit determination rules required by this regulation and under
those rules the Plan determines its benefits first.
(4) A Secondary Plan is one which is not a
Primary Plan. If a person is covered by more than one Secondary Plan, the order
of benefit determination rules of this regulation decide the order in which
their benefits are determined in relation to each other. The benefits of each
Secondary Plan may take into consideration the benefits of the Primary Plan or
Plans and the benefits of any other Plan which, under the rules of this
regulation, has its benefits determined before those of that Secondary
Plan.
(5) Allowable Expense.
(a) Allowable expense is the necessary,
reasonable, and customary item of expense for health care, when the item of
expense is covered at least in part under any of the Plans involved, except
where a statute requires a different definition. However, items of expense
under coverages such as dental care, vision care, prescription drug or hearing
aid programs may be excluded from the definition of Allowable Expense. A Plan
which provides benefits only for any such item of expense may limit its
definition of Allowable Expenses to like items of expense.
(b) When a Plan provides benefits in the form
of services, the reasonable cash value of each service will be considered as
both an Allowable Expense and a benefit paid.
(c) The difference between the cost of a
private hospital room and cost of a semi-private hospital room is not
considered an Allowable Expense under the above definition unless the patient's
stay in a private hospital room is medically necessary in terms of generally
accepted medical practice.
(d) When
COB is restricted in its use to a specific coverage in a contract (for example,
major medical or dental), the definition of ''Allowable Expense'' must include
the corresponding expenses or services to which COB applies.
(6) A claim is a request that
benefits of a Plan 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 (a) and (b) above;
or
(d) an
indemnification.
(7)
Claim Determination Period.
(a) This is the
period of time, which must not be less than twelve (12) consecutive months,
over which Allowable Expenses are compared with total benefits payable in the
absense of COB, to determine:
1. whether
overinsurance exists; and
2. how
much each Plan will pay or provide.
(b) It usually is a calendar year, but a Plan
may use some other period of time that fits the coverage of the group contract.
A person may be covered by a plan during a portion of a Claim Determination
Period if that person's coverage starts or ends during that Claim Determination
Period.
(c) As each claim is
submitted, each Plan is to determine its liability and pay or provide benefits
based upon Allowable Expenses incurred to that point in the Claim Determination
Period. But that determination is subject to adjustment as later Allowable
Expenses are incurred in the same Claim Determination Period.
Authority: T.C.A. §§
56-1-701 and
56-2-301.
