PARRIS N. GLENDENING, Governor                               Ch. 47

Approved April 9, 1996.

CHAPTER 47

(House Bill 245)

AN ACT concerning

Health Insurance - Unfair Trade Practices - Discrimination Against Enrollees

FOR the purpose of making it an unfair trade practice for certain health networks to
deny health care services to enrollees under certain circumstances; defining certain
terms; and generally relating to a prohibition against health networks from
discriminating against enrollees under certain circumstances.

BY repealing and reenacting, without amendments,
Article 48A - Insurance Code
Section 215

Annotated Code of Maryland
(1994 Replacement Volume and 1995 Supplement)

BY adding to

Article 48A - Insurance Code

Section 230B

Annotated Code of Maryland

(1994 Replacement Volume and 1995 Supplement)

SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF
MARYLAND, That the Laws of Maryland read as follows:

Article 48A - Insurance Code

215.

(a)     If, after a hearing thereon of which notice of such hearing and of the charges
against him were given such person, the Commissioner finds that any person in this State
has engaged or is engaging in any act or practice defined in or prohibited under this
subtitle, the Commissioner shall order such person to cease and desist from such acts or
practices.

(b)     Such cease and desist order shall become final upon expiration of the time
allowed for appeals from the Commissioner's orders, if no such appeal is taken, or, in
event of such an appeal, upon final decision of the court if the court affirms the
Commissioner's order or dismisses the appeal. An intervenor in such hearing shall have
the right to appeal as provided in § 216.

(c)     In event of such an appeal, to the extent that the Commissioner's order is
affirmed the court shall issue its own order commanding obedience to the terms of the
Commissioner's order.

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