As used in the Medical Care Savings Account Act:

A. "account administrator" means any of the following that administers medical care savings accounts:

(1) a national or state-chartered bank, savings and loan association, savings bank or credit union;

(2) a trust company authorized to act as a fiduciary in this state;

(3) an insurance company or health maintenance organization authorized to do business in this state pursuant to the Insurance Code; or

(4) a person approved by the federal secretary of health and human services;

B. "deductible" means the total covered medical expense an employee or the employee's dependents must pay prior to any payment by a qualified higher deductible health plan for a calendar year;

C. "department" means the office of superintendent of insurance;

D. "dependent" means:

(1) a spouse;

(2) an unmarried or unemancipated child of the employee who is a minor and who is:

(a) a natural child;

(b) a legally adopted child;

(c) a stepchild living in the same household who is primarily dependent on the employee for maintenance and support;

(d) a child for whom the employee is the legal guardian and who is primarily dependent on the employee for maintenance and support, as long as evidence of the guardianship is evidenced in a court order or decree; or

(e) a foster child living in the same household, if the child is not otherwise provided with health care or health insurance coverage;

(3) an unmarried child described in Subparagraphs (a) through (e) of Paragraph (2) of this subsection who is between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five; or

(4) a child over the age of eighteen who is incapable of self-sustaining employment by reason of mental retardation or physical handicap and who is chiefly dependent on the employee for support and maintenance;

E. "eligible individual" means an individual who with respect to any month:

(1) is covered under a qualified higher deductible health plan as of the first day of that month;

(2) is not, while covered under a qualified higher deductible health plan, covered under a health plan that:

(a) is not a qualified higher deductible health plan; and

(b) provides coverage for a benefit that is covered under the qualified higher deductible health plan; and

(3) is covered by a qualified higher deductible health plan that is established and maintained by the employer of the individual or of the spouse of the individual;

F. "eligible medical expense" means an expense paid by the employee for medical care described in Section 213(d) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 that is deductible for federal income tax purposes to the extent that those amounts are not compensated for by insurance or otherwise;

G. "employee" includes a self-employed individual;

H. "employer" includes a self-employed individual;

I. "medical care savings account" or "savings account" means an account established by an employer in the United States exclusively for the purpose of paying the eligible medical expenses of the employee or dependent, but only if the written governing instrument creating the trust meets the following requirements:

(1) except in the case of a rollover contribution, no contribution will be accepted:

(a) unless it is in cash; or

(b) to the extent the contribution, when added to previous contributions to the trust for the calendar year, exceeds seventy-five percent of the highest annual limit deductible permitted pursuant to the Medical Care Savings Account Act;

(2) no part of the trust assets will be invested in life insurance contracts;

(3) the assets of the trust will not be commingled with other property except in a common trust fund or common investment fund; and

(4) the interest of an individual in the balance in the individual's account is nonforfeitable;

J. "program" means the medical care savings account program established by an employer for employees; and

K. "qualified higher deductible health plan" means a health coverage policy, certificate or contract that provides for payments for covered health care benefits that exceed the policy, certificate or contract deductible, that is purchased by an employer for the benefit of an employee and that has the following deductible provisions:

(1) self-only coverage with an annual deductible of not less than one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500) or more than two thousand two hundred fifty dollars ($2,250) and a maximum annual out-of-pocket expense requirement of three thousand dollars ($3,000), not including premiums;

(2) family coverage with an annual deductible of not less than three thousand dollars ($3,000) or more than four thousand five hundred dollars ($4,500) and a maximum annual out-of-pocket expense requirement of five thousand five hundred dollars ($5,500), not including premiums; and

(3) preventive care coverage may be provided within the policies without the preventive care being subjected to the qualified higher deductibles.

History: Laws 1995, ch. 93, § 2; 1997, ch. 243, § 27; 1997, ch. 254, § 2; 2003, ch. 391, § 4; 2013, ch. 74, § 29.

Cross references. — For Section 213(d) of the Internal Revenue Code, see 26 U.S.C. § 213(d).

The 2013 amendment, effective March 29, 2013, defined "department" to mean the office of superintendent of insurance; and in Subsection C, after "means the", added "office of superintendent of" and after "insurance", deleted "division of the public regulation commission".

The 2003 amendment, effective June 20, 2003, inserted "New Mexico" near the end of Paragraph A(3); in Paragraph A(4), inserted "secretary of" following "by the federal", deleted "secretary" at the end; substituted "insurance division of the public regulation commission" for "department of insurance" at the end of Subsection C; deleted "and is a full-time student at an accredited educational institution; provided, 'full-time student' means a student is enrolled in and taking twelve or more semester hours or equivalent contact hours in secondary, undergraduate or vocational school or nine or more semester hours or equivalent contact hours in graduate school" near the end of Paragraph D(3).

The 1997 amendment, effective April 11, 1997, added Paragraph A(4) and deleted former Paragraphs A(4) through A(7); added Subsection E and redesignated former Subsections E through J as Subsections F through K; substituted the language beginning "in the United States" for "to pay the eligible medical expenses of an employee and his dependents" in Subsection I; added the language beginning "and that has the following deductible provisions" in Subsection K; and made stylistic changes throughout the section.