38.2-3411.2 - Coverage of adopted children required.
§ 38.2-3411.2. Coverage of adopted children required.
A. Notwithstanding the provisions of § 38.2-3419, each insurer proposing toissue individual or group accident and sickness insurance policies providinghospital, medical and surgical or major medical coverage on an expenseincurred basis, each corporation providing individual or group accident andsickness subscription contracts, and each health maintenance organizationproviding a health care plan for health care services that offers coveragefor a family member of the insured, subscriber, or plan enrollee, shall, asto the family members' coverage, also provide that the accident and sicknessinsurance benefits applicable for children shall be payable with respect toadopted children of the insured, subscriber, or plan enrollee.
B. The coverage of such policy, subscription, or plan, applicable to familymembers of the insured, subscriber or enrollee, shall apply in the samemanner and to the same but no greater extent to adopted children of theinsured, subscriber or enrollee.
C. An adopted child shall be eligible for the coverage required by thissection from the date of adoptive or parental placement with an insured,subscriber or plan enrollee for the purpose of adoption; and, in addition asto a child whose adoptive or parental placement has occurred withinthirty-one days of birth, such child shall be considered a newborn child ofthe insured, subscriber or plan enrollee as of the date of adoptive orparental placement. Once coverage is in effect, it shall continue accordingto the terms of the policy, subscription contract, or plan, unless the saidplacement is disrupted prior to final decree of adoption, and the child isremoved from placement with the insured, subscriber or plan enrollee.
D. If payment of a specific premium or subscription fee is required toprovide coverage for a child, the policy or subscription contract may requirenotification of the placement of an adoptive child and payment of therequired premium or fees shall be furnished to the insurer issuing the policyor corporation issuing the subscription contract within thirty-one days afterthe date of parental or adoptive placement in order to have the coveragecontinue beyond the thirty-one-day period.
E. No insurer, health services plan or health maintenance organization shallrestrict coverage for any dependent child adopted or placed for adoptionsolely because of a preexisting condition of such child at the time that suchchild would otherwise become eligible for coverage under the plan.
(1991, c. 103; 1994, c. 213.)