MARVIN MANDEL, Governor                        625

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That this Act shall take effect
July 1, 1969.

Approved April 23, 1969.

CHAPTER 180
(Senate Bill 243)

AN ACT to repeal and re-enact, with amendments, Section 355 (b)
of Article 48A of the Annotated Code of Maryland (1968 Supple-
ment) , and to add new Section 355 (d) to Article 48A of the Code
(1968 Supplement), title "Insurance Code," subtitle "Nonprofit
Health Service Plans," to follow immediately after Section 355 (c)
thereof, to provide that corporations seeking a certificate of
authority after July 1, 1969, have initial working capital of at
least $100,000, that all companies authorized under this subtitle
maintain unencumbered assets over and above liabilities in the
amount of $25,000 with provision for extension of time to comply
for corporations authorized prior to July 1, 1969.

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland,
That Section 355 (b) of Article 48A of the Annotated Code of Mary-
land (1968 Supplement), title "Insurance Code," subtitle "Nonprofit
Health Service Plans," be and it is hereby repealed and re-enacted,
with amendments, and that new Section 355 (d) be and it is hereby
added to Article 48A of the Code (1968 Supplement), title "Insur-
ance Code," subtitle "Nonprofit Health Service Plans," to follow
immediately after Section 355 (c) thereof, and all to read as follows:

355.

(b) The Insurance Commissioner shall issue a certificate of
authority or license to each applicant upon the payment of the fee
provided for by Section 41 of this Article and upon being satisfied:

(1)   That the applicant has been organized bona fide for the pur-
pose of establishing, maintaining and operating a nonprofit health
service plan;

(2)   That each contract executed, or proposed to be executed by
the applicant and any hospital physician, chiropodist, pharmacist,
dentist, or optometrist for the furnishing of hospital, medical,
chiropodial, pharmaceutical, dental or optometric service to the sub-
scribers to the health service plan, obligates, or will when executed,
obligate each hospital, physician, chiropodist, pharmacist, dentist or
optometrist party thereto to render the service to which each sub-
scriber may be entitled under the terms and conditions of the
various contracts issued, or proposed to be issued, by the applicant
to subscribers to the plan, and that each subscriber shall be entitled
to reimbursement for any such chiropodial or optometric service,
whether the said service is performed by a doctor of medicine, duly
licensed chiropodist, or duly licensed optometrist.

(3)   That each contract issued or proposed to be issued, to sub-
scribers to the plan is in a form approved by the Insurance Com-