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<section article="gin" article_name="Insurance" number="8-301" title_number="8" title_name="Entities That Act as Insurers" subtitle_number="3" subtitle_name="Third Party Administrators">
  <level label="a">
    <text>In this subtitle the following words have the meanings indicated.</text>
  </level>
  <level label="b">
    <level label="1">
      <text>“Administrator” means a person that, to the extent that the person is acting for an insurer or plan sponsor, has:</text>
      <level label="i">
        <text>control over or custody of premiums, contributions, or any other money on behalf of a life insurer or with respect to a plan, for any period of time; or</text>
      </level>
      <level label="ii">
        <text>discretionary authority over the adjustment, payment, or settlement of benefit claims on behalf of a life insurer or under a plan or over the investment of a life insurer’s or a plan’s assets.</text>
      </level>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>“Administrator” does not include a person that:</text>
      <level label="i">
        <text>with respect to a particular plan:</text>
        <level label="1">
          <text>is, or is an employee of, the plan sponsor;</text>
        </level>
        <level label="2">
          <text>is, or is an employee, insurance producer, or managing general agent of, an insurer or health maintenance organization that insures or administers the plan; or</text>
        </level>
        <level label="3">
          <text>is an insurance producer that solicits, procures, or negotiates a plan for a plan sponsor and that has no authority over the adjustment, payment, or settlement of benefit claims under the plan or over the investment or handling of the plan’s assets;</text>
        </level>
      </level>
      <level label="ii">
        <text>is retained by the Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Corporation to administer a plan underwritten by an impaired insurer that is subject to an order of conservation, liquidation, or rehabilitation;</text>
      </level>
      <level label="iii">
        <text>is a participant or beneficiary of a plan that provides for individual accounts and allows a participant or beneficiary to exercise investment control over assets in the participant’s or beneficiary’s account, and the participant or beneficiary exercises that investment control;</text>
      </level>
      <level label="iv">
        <text>administers only plans that are subject to ERISA and that do not provide benefits through insurance, unless any of the plans administered is a multiple employer welfare arrangement as defined in § 514(b)(6)(A)(ii) of ERISA;</text>
      </level>
      <level label="v">
        <text>is, or is an employee of, a bank, savings bank, trust company, savings and loan association, or credit union that is regulated under the laws of this State, another state, or the United States;</text>
      </level>
      <level label="vi">
        <text>is, or is an employee of, a person that is registered as:</text>
        <level label="1">
          <text>an investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 or the Maryland Securities Act;</text>
        </level>
        <level label="2">
          <text>a broker–dealer or transfer agent under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 or the Maryland Securities Act; or</text>
        </level>
        <level label="3">
          <text>an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940; or</text>
        </level>
      </level>
      <level label="vii">
        <text>is, or is an employee of, the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange, including the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange’s Consolidated Services Center.</text>
      </level>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="c">
    <text>“Employee organization” means:</text>
    <level label="1">
      <text>a labor union or other labor organization;</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>an agency or employee representation committee, association, group, or plan:</text>
      <level label="i">
        <text>in which employees participate; and</text>
      </level>
      <level label="ii">
        <text>that exists for the purpose, wholly or partly, of dealing with employers about a plan or other matters incidental to employment relationships; or</text>
      </level>
    </level>
    <level label="3">
      <text>an employees’ beneficiary association that is organized for the purpose, wholly or partly, to establish a plan.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="d">
    <level label="1">
      <text>“Employer” means a person that, in relation to a plan, acts directly as an employer or indirectly in the interest of an employer.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>“Employer” includes a group or association of employers acting for an employer.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="e">
    <text>“ERISA” means the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974.</text>
  </level>
  <level label="f">
    <level label="1">
      <text>“Plan” means a fund or other arrangement that is established, maintained, or contributed to by an employer, employee organization, or both, to the extent that the fund or arrangement was established or is maintained for the purpose of:</text>
      <level label="i">
        <text>providing for participants or beneficiaries, any of whom are residents of the State, through the purchase of insurance or otherwise:</text>
        <level label="1">
          <text>medical, surgical, or hospital care or benefits;</text>
        </level>
        <level label="2">
          <text>benefits in the event of sickness, accident, disability, death, or unemployment;</text>
        </level>
        <level label="3">
          <text>vacation benefits;</text>
        </level>
        <level label="4">
          <text>apprenticeship or other training programs;</text>
        </level>
        <level label="5">
          <text>child care centers;</text>
        </level>
        <level label="6">
          <text>scholarship funds;</text>
        </level>
        <level label="7">
          <text>prepaid legal services;</text>
        </level>
        <level label="8">
          <text>severance pay arrangements;</text>
        </level>
        <level label="9">
          <text>supplemental retirement income payments; or</text>
        </level>
        <level label="10">
          <text>life insurance; or</text>
        </level>
      </level>
      <level label="ii">
        <text>providing retirement income to or allowing the deferral of income by employees, any of whom are residents of the State, until or after the termination of covered employment.</text>
      </level>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>“Plan” does not include a fund or arrangement established or maintained solely for the purpose of complying with the workers’ compensation laws of the State.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="g">
    <text>“Plan sponsor” means:</text>
    <level label="1">
      <text>the employer, for a plan established or maintained by a single employer;</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>the employee organization, for a plan established or maintained by an employee organization; or</text>
    </level>
    <level label="3">
      <text>the association, committee, joint board of trustees, or other similar group of representatives of the parties that establish or maintain the plan, for a plan established or maintained by two or more employers or jointly by one or more employers and one or more employee organizations.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
</section>
