44-7603.

Terms, defined.

For purposes of the Multiple Employer Welfare Arrangement Act:

(1) Certificate of registration means a document issued by the director authorizing a multiple employer welfare arrangement to offer a health benefit plan that is not fully insured;

(2) Covered individual means (a) an employee who is covered by a health benefit plan provided through a multiple employer welfare arrangement in which the employer is participating or (b) a self-employed individual who is covered by a health benefit plan provided through a multiple employer welfare arrangement. Covered individual includes a dependent of an employee or self-employed individual as defined under the terms of the health benefit plan;

(3) Director means the Director of Insurance;

(4) Fully insured health benefit plan means a health benefit plan which provides for health benefits, all of which are guaranteed under a contract or policy of insurance issued by an insurance company licensed to transact the business of insurance in this state;

(5) Health benefit plan means an employee welfare benefit plan to the extent that it provides any hospital, surgical, or medical expense benefits to covered individuals directly or through insurance, reimbursement, or otherwise. Health benefit plan does not include (a) accident-only, disability income, hospital confinement indemnity, dental, or credit insurance, (b) coverage issued as a supplement to liability insurance, (c) medicare or insurance provided as a supplement to medicare, (d) insurance arising from workers' compensation provisions, (e) automobile medical payment insurance, (f) any other specific limited coverage, or (g) insurance under which benefits are payable with or without regard to fault and which is statutorily required to be contained in any liability insurance policy;

(6) Multiple employer welfare arrangement means a multiple employer welfare arrangement as defined by 29 U.S.C. 1002, as such section existed on January 1, 2002, if the multiple employer welfare arrangement is sponsored by an association of employers that offers a health benefit plan that is not fully insured. Such association of employers may include self-employed individuals;

(7) Participating employer means an employer or self-employed individual that participates in a multiple employer welfare arrangement; and

(8) Self-employed individual means an individual who:

(a) Has an ownership interest in a trade or business in Nebraska, regardless of whether the trade or business is incorporated or unincorporated;

(b) Earns wages or self-employment income from the trade or business; and

(c) Works at least twenty hours per week or eighty hours per month providing personal services to the trade or business or earns annual income from the trade or business in an amount that is no less than the individual's and any covered dependent's annual cost for health benefit plan coverage under the multiple employer welfare arrangement.