(a) Every long-term care policy or certificate that purports to provide benefits of home care or community-based services, shall provide at least the following:

(1) Home health care.

(2) Adult day care.

(3) Personal care.

(4) Homemaker services.

(5) Hospice services.

(6) Respite care.

(b) For purposes of this section, policy definitions of these benefits may be no more restrictive than the following:

(1) “Home health care” is skilled nursing or other professional services in the residence, including, but not limited to, part-time and intermittent skilled nursing services, home health aid services, physical therapy, occupational therapy, or speech therapy and audiology services, and medical social services by a social worker.

(2) “Adult day care” is medical or nonmedical care on a less than 24-hour basis, provided in a licensed facility outside the residence, for persons in need of personal services, supervision, protection, or assistance in sustaining daily needs, including eating, bathing, dressing, ambulating, transferring, toileting, and taking medications.

(3) “Personal care” is assistance with the activities of daily living, including the instrumental activities of daily living, provided by a skilled or unskilled person under a plan of care developed by a physician or a multidisciplinary team under medical direction. “Instrumental activities of daily living” include using the telephone, managing medications, moving about outside, shopping for essentials, preparing meals, laundry, and light housekeeping.

(4) “Homemaker services” is assistance with activities necessary to or consistent with the insured’s ability to remain in his or her residence, that is provided by a skilled or unskilled person under a plan of care developed by a physician or a multidisciplinary team under medical direction.

(5) “Hospice services” are outpatient services not paid by Medicare, that are designed to provide palliative care, alleviate the physical, emotional, social, and spiritual discomforts of an individual who is experiencing the last phases of life due to the existence of a terminal disease, and to provide supportive care to the primary care giver and the family. Care may be provided by a skilled or unskilled person under a plan of care developed by a physician or a multidisciplinary team under medical direction.

(6) “Respite care” is short-term care provided in an institution, in the home, or in a community-based program, that is designed to relieve a primary care giver in the home. This is a separate benefit with its own conditions for eligibility and maximum benefit levels.

(c) Home care benefits shall not be limited or excluded by any of the following:

(1) Requiring a need for care in a nursing home if home care services are not provided.

(2) Requiring that skilled nursing or therapeutic services be used before or with unskilled services.

(3) Requiring the existence of an acute condition.

(4) Limiting benefits to services provided by Medicare-certified providers or agencies.

(5) Limiting benefits to those provided by licensed or skilled personnel when other providers could provide the service, except where prior certification or licensure is required by state law.

(6) Defining an eligible provider in a manner that is more restrictive than that used to license that provider by the state where the service is provided.

(7) Requiring “medical necessity” or similar standard as a criteria for benefits.

(d) Every comprehensive long-term care policy or certificate that provides for both institutional care and home care and that sets a daily, weekly, or monthly benefit payment maximum, shall pay a maximum benefit payment for home care that is at least 50 percent of the maximum benefit payment for institutional care, and in no event shall home care benefits be paid at a rate less than fifty dollars ($50) per day. Insurance products approved for residents in continuing care retirement communities are exempt from this provision.

Every such comprehensive long-term care policy or certificate that sets a durational maximum for institutional care, limiting the length of time that benefits may be received during the life of the policy or certificate, shall allow a similar durational maximum for home care that is at least one-half of the length of time allowed for institutional care.

(Added by renumbering Section 10232.8 by Stats. 1997, Ch. 699, Sec. 4. Effective October 6, 1997.)