Group health benefit plans; bona fide associations, benefits consortium.

Authorizes a trust constitutes a benefits consortium and is authorized to sell health benefits plans to members of a sponsoring association, which is a nonstock corporation that, among other conditions, has at least five members, has been formed for purposes other than obtaining or providing health benefits, and operates as a nonprofit entity. The bill provides that the trust is subject to the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and U.S. Department of Labor regulations applicable to multiple employer welfare arrangements and to the authority of the U.S. Department of Labor to enforce such law and regulations. The bill (i) prohibits a self-funded multiple employer welfare…