Ch. 5

LAWS OF MARYLAND

benefits are payable shall be at least 30 days in any calendar
year or benefit period;

(2)  With respect to major medical expense coverage,
benefits, after the applicable deductible, for covered expenses
arising from all those services, other than inpatient, which are
rendered to treat acute mental illness and emotional disorders,
shall be at a rate which is not less than 65 percent for the
first 20 visits per calendar year or benefit period and not less
than 50 percent for any visits thereafter for that calendar year
or benefit period, of the benefits which the policy provides for
other types of illness; and

(3)  (i) With respect to benefits for residency in a
Department of Health and Mental Hygiene approved psychiatric
halfway house, the period of residency for which benefits are
payable shall be at least 120 days and shall be at a rate which
is not less than 75 percent of the per diem rate which amount may
not exceed $30 per day;

(ii) Justification for length of stay shall be
documented by a qualified psychiatrist or psychologist based on a
monthly evaluation of the patient which is available to the
insurance company at their request;

(iii) The insurance company, as a condition
precedent to the allowance for benefits for residency in a
psychiatric halfway house, may require the certification in
writing by a licensed psychiatrist or psychologist that residency
in a psychiatric halfway house is medically necessary either in
lieu of or in combination with confinement as an inpatient in a
hospital and will reduce the length of confinement as an
inpatient in a hospital;

(iv) The total benefits payable for treatment
as an inpatient in a hospital or residency in a psychiatric
halfway house or a combination of both may not exceed the cost
of benefits available annually for treatment as an inpatient in a
hospital.

DRAFTER'S NOTE:

Error: Omitted comma in Article 48A, § 477E(a).

Occurred: Ch. 726, Acts of 1981.

478F.

(3) The Commissioner shall approve the rate structure for
policies of essential property insurance and homeowner's
insurance offered by or through the Association, provided the
rate structure does [not] NOT, in the opinion of the

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