No policy or certificate may be advertised, solicited, delivered, or issued for delivery in this state as a medicare supplement policy or certificate unless it complies with these benefit standards. Benefit standards applicable to medicare supplement policies or certificates issued before June 1, 2010, remain subject to the requirements of WAC 284-66-060 and 284-66-063.

(1) General standards. The following standards apply to medicare supplement policies and certificates and are in addition to all other requirements of this regulation.

(a) A medicare supplement policy or certificate shall not exclude or limit benefits for losses incurred more than three months from the effective date of coverage because it involved a preexisting condition. The policy or certificate may not define a preexisting condition more restrictively than a condition for which medical advice was given or treatment was recommended by or received from a physician within three months before the effective date of coverage.

(b) A medicare supplement policy or certificate must provide that benefits designed to cover cost sharing amounts under medicare will be changed automatically to coincide with any changes in the applicable medicare deductible, copayment or coinsurance amounts. Premiums may be modified to correspond with such changes.

(c) No medicare supplement policy or certificate may provide for termination of coverage of a spouse solely because of the occurrence of an event specified for termination of coverage of the insured other than the nonpayment of premium.

(d) Each medicare supplement policy shall be guaranteed renewable and:

(i) The issuer may not cancel or nonrenew the policy solely on the ground of health status of the individual; and

(ii) The issuer may not cancel or nonrenew the policy for any reason other than nonpayment of premium or material misrepresentation.

(iii) If the medicare supplement policy is terminated by the group policyholder and is not replaced as provided under (d)(v) of this subsection, the issuer shall offer certificate holders an individual medicare supplement policy which, at the option of the certificate holder:

(A) Provides for continuation of the benefits contained in the group policy; or

(B) Provides for benefits that otherwise meet the requirements of this subsection.

(iv) If an individual is a certificate holder in a group medicare supplement policy and the individual terminates membership in the group, the issuer must:

(A) Offer the certificate holder the conversion opportunity described in (d)(iii) of this subsection; or

(B) At the option of the group policyholder, offer the certificate holder continuation of coverage under the group policy.

(v) If a group medicare supplement policy is replaced by another group medicare supplement policy purchased by the same policyholder, the issue of the replacement policy must offer coverage to all persons covered under the old group policy on its date of termination.

(vi) Termination of a medicare supplement policy or certificate must be without prejudice to any continuous loss which commenced while the policy was in force, but the extension of benefits beyond the period during which the policy was in force may be conditioned upon the continuous total disability of the insured, limited to the duration of the policy benefit period, if any, or payment of the maximum benefits. Receipt of medicare Part D benefits will not be considered in determining a continuous loss.

(vii)(A) A medicare supplement policy or certificate must provide that benefits and premiums under the policy or certificate are suspended at the request of the policyholder or certificate holder for the period not to exceed twenty-four months in which the policyholder or certificate holder has applied for and is determined to be entitled to medical assistance under Title XIX of the Social Security Act, but only if the policyholder or certificate holder notifies the issuer of the policy or certificate within ninety days after the date the individual becomes entitled to assistance.

(B) If suspension occurs and if the policyholder or certificate holder loses entitlement to medical assistance, the policy or certificate shall be automatically reinstituted, effective as of the date of termination of entitlement within ninety days after the date of loss and pays the premium attributable to the period, effective as of the date of termination of entitlement.

(C) Each medicare supplement policy must provide that benefits and premiums under the policy must be suspended for any period that may be provided by federal regulation at the request of the policyholder if the policyholder is entitled to benefits under Section 226(b) of the Social Security Act and is covered under a group health plan as defined in Section 1862 (b)(1)(A)(v) of the Social Security Act. If suspension occurs and if the policyholder or certificate holder loses coverage under the group health plan, the policy must be automatically reinstituted effective as of the date of loss of coverage if the policyholder provides notice of loss of coverage within ninety days after the date of the loss and pays the premium attributable to the period, effective as of the date of termination of enrollment in the group health plan.

(viii) Reinstitution of coverages as described in this section:

(A) Must not provide for any waiting period with respect to treatment of preexisting conditions;

(B) Must provide for resumption of coverage that is substantially equivalent to coverage in effect before the date of suspension; and

(C) Must provide for classification of premiums on terms at least as favorable to the policyholder or certificate holder as the premium classification terms that would have applied to the policyholder or certificate holder had the coverage not been suspended.

(2) Every issuer of medicare supplement insurance benefit plans A, B, C, D, F, F with high deductible, G, M, and N must make available a policy or certificate including only the following basic "core" package of benefits to each prospective insured. An issuer may make available to prospective insureds any of the other medicare supplement insurance plans in addition to the basic core package, but not in lieu of it.

(a) Coverage of Part A medicare eligible expenses for hospitalization to the extent not covered by medicare from the 61st day through the 90th day in any medicare benefit period.

(b) Coverage of Part A medicare eligible expenses incurred for hospitalization to the extent not covered by medicare for each medicare lifetime inpatient reserve day used;

(c) Upon exhaustion of the medicare hospital inpatient coverage, including the lifetime reserve days, coverage of one hundred percent of the medicare Part A eligible expenses for hospitalization paid at the applicable prospective payment system rate or other appropriate medicare standard of payment, subject to a lifetime maximum benefit of an additional three hundred sixty-five days. The provider must accept the issuer's payment as payment in full and may not bill the insured for any balance;

(d) Coverage under medicare Parts A and B for the reasonable cost of the first three pints of blood or equivalent quantities of packed red blood cells, as defined under federal regulations, unless replaced in accordance with federal regulations;

(e) Coverage for the coinsurance amount, or in the case of hospital outpatient department services paid under a prospective payment system, the copayment amount, of medicare eligible expenses under Part B regardless of hospital confinement, subject to the medicare Part B deductible.

(f) Coverage of cost sharing for all Part A medicare eligible hospice care and respite care expenses.

(3) The following additional benefits must be included in medicare supplement benefit plans B, C, D, F, F with high deductible, G, M, and N as provided by WAC 284-66-066:

(a) Coverage for one hundred percent of the medicare Part A inpatient hospital deductible amount per benefit period.

(b) Coverage for fifty percent of the medicare Part A inpatient hospital deductible amount per benefit period.

(c) Coverage for the actual billed charges up to the coinsurance amount from the 21st day through the 100th day in a medicare benefit period for posthospital skilled nursing facility care eligible under medicare Part A.

(d) Coverage for one hundred percent of the medicare Part B deductible amount per calendar year regardless of hospital confinement.

(e) Coverage for all of the difference between the actual medicare Part B charges as billed, not to exceed any charge limitation established by the medicare program or state law, and the medicare-approved Part B charge.

(f) Coverage to the extent not covered by medicare for eighty percent of the billed charges for medicare-eligible expenses for medically necessary emergency hospital, physician and medical care received in a foreign country, which care would have been covered by medicare if provided in the United States and which care began during the first sixty consecutive days of each trip outside the United States, subject to a calendar year deductible of two hundred fifty dollars and a lifetime maximum benefit of fifty thousand dollars. For purposes of this benefit, "emergency care" means care needed immediately because of an injury or an illness of sudden and unexpected onset.

(4)(a) Every issuer of a standardized medicare supplement plan B, C, D, F, F with high deductible, G, K, L, M, or N issued on or after June 1, 2010, must issue to an individual who was eligible for both medicare hospital and physician services prior to January 1, 2020, without evidence of insurability, coverage under a 2010 plan B, C, D, F, F with high deductible, G, G with high deductible, K, L, M, or N to any policyholder if the medicare supplement policy or certificate replaces another medicare supplement policy or certificate B, C, D, F, F with high deductible, G, G with high deductible, K, L, M, or N or other more comprehensive coverage, including any standardized medicare supplement policy issued prior to June 1, 2010.

(b) Every issuer of a standardized medicare supplemental plan B, D, G, G with high deductible, K, L, M, or N issued on or after January 1, 2020, must issue to an individual who was eligible for both medicare hospital and physician services on or after January 1, 2020, without evidence of insurability, coverage under a 2010 plan B, D, G, G with high deductible, K, L, M, or N to any policyholder if the medicare supplemental policy or certificate replaces another medicare supplemental policy or certificate B, D, G, G with high deductible, K, L, M, or N or other more comprehensive coverage.

(c) Every issuer of a standardized medicare supplement plan A issued on or after June 1, 2010, must issue, without evidence of insurability, coverage under a 2010 plan A to any policyholder if the medicare supplement policy or certificate replaces another medicare supplement plan A issued prior to June 1, 2010.