Unauthorized contract or adjustment transactions;

penalty. A. Any person writing or attempting to write, solicit or procure health care plan contracts within this state without a certificate of authority or license duly issued in accordance with the Insurance Code and then required and subsisting, and any person adjusting, settling or knowingly accepting adjustment or settlement of any loss covered by a contract written or issued by any health care plan not holding a subsisting certificate of authority issued by the superintendent, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not less than one hundred dollars ($100) nor more than one thousand dollars ($1,000), or imprisoned in the county jail for not less than thirty (30) nor more than sixty (60) days, or both such fine and imprisonment in the court's discretion. B. The exemptions from certificate of authority requirements of insurers as provided in Section 78 [59A-5-11 NMSA 1978] of the Insurance Code shall to the extent applicable also apply as to health care plans and their contracts under this section.