SPECIAL RULES RELATING TO CHURCH PLANS.

SEC. 1532. SPECIAL RULES RELATING TO CHURCH PLANS. (a) In General.—Section 9802 (relating to prohibiting discrimination against individual participants and beneficiaries based on health status) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection: “(c) Special Rules for Church Plans.—A church plan (as defined in section 414(e)) shall not be treated as failing to meet the requirements of this section solely because such plan requires evidence of good health for coverage of— “(1) both any employee of an employer with 10 or less employees (determined without regard to section 414(e)(3)(C)) and any self-employed individual, or “(2) any individual who enrolls after the first 90 days of initial eligibility under the plan. This subsection shall apply to a plan for any year only if the plan included the provisions described in the preceding sentence on July 15, 1997, and at all times thereafter before the beginning of such year”. (b) Effective Date.—The amendments made by subsection (a) shall take effect as if included in the amendments made by section 401(a) of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996.