(a) The State Department of Health Care Services shall ensure that its contracts with a health care service plan or health insurer to provide Medi-Cal managed care coverage meet all of the following requirements:

(1) A health care service plan or health insurer shall provide coverage in its bridge plan product to its Medi-Cal managed care enrollees and other individuals that meet the requirements in paragraph (2) if the Medi-Cal managed care plan offers a bridge plan product pursuant to Section 100504.5 of the Government Code.

(2) Only the following individuals shall be eligible to enroll in the Medi-Cal managed care plan’s bridge plan product if the Medi-Cal managed care plan offers a bridge plan product:

(A) An individual who is determined to be eligible for the Exchange and whose Medi-Cal coverage or Healthy Families coverage was terminated. In implementing this subparagraph, the Exchange shall adopt processes to ensure that individuals have no gap in coverage to the greatest extent possible. The Exchange shall request approval from the federal government to limit enrollment under this subparagraph to individuals with a family income at or below 250 percent of the federal poverty level.

(B) Other members of the modified adjusted gross income household, as defined in Section 100501 of the Government Code, in which there are Medi-Cal or Healthy Families enrollees.

(C) A parent or caretaker relative of a child on Medi-Cal. The Exchange may delay the operative date of this subparagraph until it has the operational capability to implement this subparagraph, but no later than January 1, 2015.

(3) Provide all of the following:

(A) Except as provided in subparagraph (C) of paragraph (2), an individual who is eligible to enroll in a bridge plan product under subparagraph (A) of paragraph (2) shall only be eligible to enroll in a bridge plan product offered by the health care service plan or health insurer through which the individual was enrolled prior to eligibility for a bridge plan product as either a Medi-Cal beneficiary or as a Healthy Families enrollee.

(B) An individual who is eligible to enroll in a bridge plan product under subparagraph (B) of paragraph (2) shall only be eligible to enroll in a bridge plan product offered by the health care service plan or health insurer through which the member of the household was enrolled as a Medi-Cal beneficiary or as a Healthy Families enrollee.

(C) The Exchange shall seek federal approval to allow individuals described in subparagraphs (A) and (B) the option to enroll in a different bridge plan product if the individual’s primary care provider is included in the contracted network of the different bridge plan product and either of the following applies to the bridge plan product for which the individual is eligible:

(i) The product is not offered in that individual’s service area.

(ii) The product is not offered as a bridge plan product by the Exchange.

(4) The Medi-Cal managed care plan shall only offer a bridge plan product if the bridge plan product premium contribution amount in the silver category for the eligible individual is equal to, or less than, the premium contribution amount for the lowest cost plan in the silver category that would have been available to that individual without the bridge plan product.

(b) The State Department of Health Care Services may enter into a contract with the California Health Benefit Exchange to delegate the implementation of any part of this section to the Exchange.

(c) Notwithstanding subdivision (a) of Section 1399.849 of the Health and Safety Code and subdivision (a) of Section 10965.3 of the Insurance Code, the State Department of Health Care Services may allow a Medi-Cal managed care plan, pursuant to its contract under this section, to limit enrollment into bridge plan products to eligible individuals identified in paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of this section based on limitations in contracted network capacity for bridge plan products as provided in Section 1399.857 of the Health and Safety Code or Section 10753.12 of the Insurance Code.

(d) This section shall become inoperative on the October 1 that is five years after the date that federal approval of the bridge plan option occurs, and, as of the second January 1 thereafter, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute that is enacted before that date deletes or extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.

(Added by Stats. 2013, 1st Ex. Sess., Ch. 5, Sec. 14. (SB 3 1x) Effective September 30, 2013. Conditionally inoperative, on date prescribed by its own provisions. Repealed, by its own provisions, on second January 1 after inoperative date.)