Employer group health insurance purchasing cooperative plan

A. For purposes of this Section, a purchasing cooperative shall be treated as a bona fide association as defined in R.S. 22:1061(5)(b). Employers participating in a purchasing cooperative shall meet the same participation requirements required of an employer association under this Title. A purchasing cooperative shall be authorized to establish minimum health insurance issuer participation rates for employers who participate in the purchasing cooperative. B. (1) The purchasing cooperative shall file for approval by the department any plan for spreading risk across health insurance issuers who participate in such cooperative. The department shall determine whether such risk spreading mechanisms are actuarially sound and include appropriate safeguards to assure fidelity of any funds used for such purposes. (2) No asset or funds used for spreading risk across health insurance issuers shall be encumbered, pledged, or utilized to secure a loan or to confer a personal benefit on any officer, director, employee, agent, stockholder, or any beneficiary of any trust of any other person responsible to the purchasing cooperative. (3) Any person and any officer, director, employee, agent, partner, stockholder, or any beneficiary of any trust in violation of this Subsection shall be fined two times the amount of the benefit conferred but not less than ten thousand dollars and shall be removed forthwith from any office, position, capacity, or relationship with the purchasing cooperative. In such instances, the commissioner shall have a cause of action and standing to sue to recover and conserve such property. C. Any purchasing cooperative developed shall include choices and options in coverage and benefits. Any such purchasing cooperative shall also provide employers and employees with data that includes but is not limited to cost, quality, and outcomes of care offered by the various health care insurers and managed care organizations participating in the plan.