Sec. 843.108.  POINT-OF-SERVICE RIDER.  (a)  In this section, "point-of-service rider" means a rider under which indemnity benefits for the cost of health care services are provided by a health maintenance organization in conjunction with corresponding benefits arranged for or provided by a health maintenance organization.
(b)  A health maintenance organization may offer a point-of-service rider for out-of-network coverage without obtaining a separate certificate of authority as an insurer if the expenses incurred under the point-of-service rider do not exceed 10 percent of the total medical and hospital expenses incurred for all health plan products sold by the health maintenance organization.  If the expenses exceed that level, the health maintenance organization may not issue new point-of-service riders until the expenses fall below that level or until the health maintenance organization obtains a certificate of authority as an insurer.
(c)  Indemnity benefits for services provided under a point-of-service rider may be limited to those services defined in the evidence of coverage and may be subject to different cost-sharing provisions.  The cost-sharing provisions for indemnity benefits may be higher than the cost-sharing provisions for in-network health maintenance organization coverage.  For enrollees in a limited provider network, higher cost-sharing may be imposed only when benefits or services are obtained outside the health maintenance organization delivery network.
(d)  A health maintenance organization that issues a point-of-service rider under this section must meet additional net worth requirements prescribed by the commissioner.  The commissioner shall base the net worth requirements on the actuarial relation of the amount of insurance risk assumed through the point-of-service rider to the amount of solvency and reserve requirements otherwise required of the health maintenance organization.
Added by Acts 2001, 77th Leg., ch. 1419, Sec. 1, eff. June 1, 2003.