H.R. 1101 — what changed

Effective Date— The amendments made by this Act shall take effect 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act. The Secretary of Labor shall first issue all regulations necessary to carry out the amendments made by this Act within 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act.

In general— In any case in which, as of the date of the enactment of this Act, an arrangement is maintained in a State for the purpose of providing benefits consisting of medical care for the employees and beneficiaries of its participating employers, at least 200 participating employers make contributions to such arrangement, such arrangement has been in existence for at least 10 years, and such arrangement is licensed under the laws of one or more States to provide such benefits to its participating employers, upon the filing with the applicable authority (as defined in section 812(a)(5) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (as amended by this subtitle)) by the arrangement of an application for certification of the arrangement under part 8 of subtitle B of title I of such Act—

such arrangement shall be deemed to be a group health plan for purposes of title I of such Act;

the requirements of sections 801(a) and 803(a) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 shall be deemed met with respect to such arrangement;

the requirements of section 803(b) of such Act shall be deemed met, if the arrangement is operated by a board of directors which—

is elected by the participating employers, with each employer having one vote; and

has complete fiscal control over the arrangement and which is responsible for all operations of the arrangement;

the requirements of section 804(a) of such Act shall be deemed met with respect to such arrangement; and

the arrangement may be certified by any applicable authority with respect to its operations in any State only if it operates in such State on the date of certification.

Definitions— For purposes of this subsection, the terms group health plan, medical care, and participating employer shall have the meanings provided in section 812 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, except that the reference in paragraph (7) of such section to an “association health plan” shall be deemed a reference to an arrangement referred to in this subsection.