2017-2018 Bill 8: Health Care Sharing Ministry - South Carolina Legislature Online

1 South Carolina General Assembly 2 122nd Session, 2017-2018 3 4 S. 8 5 6 STATUS INFORMATION 7 8 General Bill 9 Sponsors: Senators Campsen and Hembree 10 Document Path: l:\council\bills\nbd\11037cz17.docx 11 12 Introduced in the Senate on January 10, 2017 13 Currently residing in the Senate Committee on Banking and Insurance 14 15 Summary: Health Care Sharing Ministry 16 17 18 HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS 19 20 Date Body Action Description with journal page number 21 12/13/2016 Senate Prefiled 22 12/13/2016 Senate Referred to Committee on Banking and Insurance 23 1/10/2017 Senate Introduced and read first time ( Senate Journalpage 21) 24 1/10/2017 Senate Referred to Committee on Banking and Insurance ( Senate Journalpage 21) 25 26 View the latest legislative information at the website 27 28 29 VERSIONS OF THIS BILL 30 31 12/13/2016 32 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A BILL 10 11 TO AMEND THE CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 12 1976, BY ADDING SECTION 38525 SO AS TO PROVIDE 13 THAT A HEALTH CARE SHARING MINISTRY IS NOT 14 ENGAGING IN THE BUSINESS OF INSURANCE AND NOT 15 SUBJECT TO REGULATION BY THE DEPARTMENT OF 16 INSURANCE AND TO DEFINE THE TERM “HEALTH CARE 17 SHARING MINISTRY”. 18 19 Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South 20 Carolina: 21 22 SECTION 1. This act may be cited as the “Health Care Sharing 23 Ministries Freedom to Share Act”. 24 25 SECTION 2. Chapter 5, Title 38 of the 1976 Code is amended by 26 adding: 27 28 “Section 38525. (A) A health care sharing ministry is not 29 considered to be engaging in the business of insurance and is not 30 subject to regulation by the Department of Insurance. 31 (B) For purposes of this section, a ‘health care sharing 32 ministry’ means a faithbased, nonprofit organization that is 33 taxexempt under the Internal Revenue Code that: 34 (1) limits its participants to people of a similar faith; 35 (2) acts as a facilitator among participants who have 36 financial or medical needs and matches them with participants 37 with the present ability to assist those with financial or medical 38 needs, in accordance with criteria established by the health care 39 sharing ministry; 40 (3) provides for the financial or medical needs of a 41 participant through contributions from one participant or multiple 42 participants to another;

[8] 2 1 (4) provides amounts that participants may contribute with 2 no assumption of risk or promise to pay among the participants 3 and no assumption of risk or promise to pay by the health care 4 sharing ministry to the participants; 5 (5) provides a written monthly statement to all participants 6 that lists the total dollar amount of qualified needs submitted to the 7 health care sharing ministry, as well as the amount actually 8 published or assigned to participants for their contributions; and 9 (6) provides a written disclaimer on or accompanying all 10 applications and guideline materials distributed by or on behalf of 11 the organization that reads, in substance: 12 ‘Important Notice: The health care sharing ministry facilitating 13 the sharing of medical expenses is not a health insurance company, 14 and neither its guidelines nor plan of operation is an insurance 15 policy. Whether anyone chooses to assist you with your medical 16 bills will be totally voluntary because no other participant or group 17 of participants will be compelled by law to contribute toward your 18 medical bills. As such, participation in the organization or a 19 subscription to any of its documents should never be considered to 20 be insurance. Regardless of whether you receive any payment for 21 medical expenses or whether this organization continues to 22 operate, you are always personally responsible for the payment of 23 your own medical bills’.” 24 25 SECTION 3. If any section, subsection, paragraph, subparagraph, 26 sentence, clause, phrase, or word of this act is for any reason held 27 to be unconstitutional or invalid, such holding shall not affect the 28 constitutionality or validity of the remaining portions of this act, 29 the General Assembly hereby declaring that it would have passed 30 this act, and each and every section, subsection, paragraph, 31 subparagraph, sentence, clause, phrase, and word thereof, 32 irrespective of the fact that any one or more other sections, 33 subsections, paragraphs, subparagraphs, sentences, clauses, 34 phrases, or words hereof may be declared to be unconstitutional, 35 invalid, or otherwise ineffective. 36 37 SECTION 4. The repeal or amendment by this act of any law, 38 whether temporary or permanent or civil or criminal, does not 39 affect pending actions, rights, duties, or liabilities founded thereon, 40 or alter, discharge, release or extinguish any penalty, forfeiture, or 41 liability incurred under the repealed or amended law, unless the 42 repealed or amended provision shall so expressly provide. After 43 the effective date of this act, all laws repealed or amended by this

[8] 3 1 act must be taken and treated as remaining in full force and effect 2 for the purpose of sustaining any pending or vested right, civil 3 action, special proceeding, criminal prosecution, or appeal existing 4 as of the effective date of this act, and for the enforcement of 5 rights, duties, penalties, forfeitures, and liabilities as they stood 6 under the repealed or amended laws. 7 8 SECTION 5. This act takes effect upon approval by the 9 Governor. 10 XX 11