Annual Statements & Financial Matters
    Alaska has published new standards and financial reporting requirements for insurers deemed to be in an impaired financial condition.
 
    Connecticut has five bulletins dealing with financial reporting and annual statements:
    • Bulletin FS-4-09, 2009 annual statements;
    • Bulletin FS-4AR-09, financial reporting requirements for accredited reinsurers;
    • Bulletin FS-4C-09, financial reporting requirements for captive insurers;
    • Bulletin FS-4RR-09, financial reporting requirements for risk retention groups; and
    • Bulletin FS-4SL-09, financial reporting requirements for all eligible surplus lines insurers.
 
    Georgia Directive 09-RS-1 tells non-domestic insurers to electronically file company renewal filings and associated fees.

    A Hawaii notice has information for filing Form 323, 2010 quarterly premium tax statements, and another notice addresses the filing of Form 322, Hawaii Investments.
 
 
Health Insurance
    Connecticut has published Proposed Amended Regulation 38a-505-13 with the intent to clarify and expand the minimum standards for individual specified disease policies.
 
    Maryland has published a report about medical loss ratios.
 
    Utah is proposing to amend rule R590-255. The change would adopt a model letter for insurers to provide to employers to notify an employee of his or her options for alternative coverage. The rule would apply to accident and health insurers that must offer alternative coverage.
 
 
Life Insurance & Annuities
    New Jersey has adopted amendments to NJAC 11:4-43.2 and 43.6, Individual Annuity Contract Form Standards Definitions; Waiver of Surrender Charges.

    New York Supplement 1 to Circular Letter 27 (2008) discusses the requirement under New York insurance law to extend the same rights and benefits to same-sex spouses in marriages legally performed in jurisdictions outside New York as are afforded to opposite-sex spouses. Insurers have asked about the impact of the circular letter on the mandatory distribution rules set forth in the federal Internal Revenue Code, which contain beneficial options available only to a surviving spouse of a deceased annuity holder. The current supplement addresses those questions. It replaces and supersedes a previous Supplement 1 to Circular Letter No. 27 (2008), which was dated Aug. 10, 2009 and withdrawn Oct. 19, 2009.
 
 
Long-Term Care Insurance
    Arizona Bulletin 09-05 has information about the state’s long-term care partnership program.
 
 
Rates, Forms & Filings
    Alabama Bulletin 2009-07 reminds insurers that a rating plan recognizing premium discounts or rate reductions must be filed with the Insurance Department by Jan. 1, 2010.
 
 
State Regulation of Insurance
    A New Hampshire order states there is not a competitive marketplace for medical malpractice insurance for physicians and hospitals.
 
    New Jersey Bulletin 09-39 says the state is taking enforcement action against insurers and producers who have spread false information and disparaged their business competitors. Such behavior has been determined to be an unfair business practice. Insurers are being encouraged to distribute the bulletin to their producers.
 
    New Jersey rule N.J.A.C. 11:17A-2.3 says insurers or producers can make charitable contributions if a consumer agrees to buy an insurance product, provided that the insurer or producer doesn’t benefit, other than an income tax benefit, and that no income tax benefit is passed through to the consumer. A proposed amendment would have that not apply to title insurance companies and their producers.
 
    Starting Dec. 15, New York will require newly elected or appointed officers and directors with an in-state address to be electronically fingerprinted. A notice contains the new procedures and forms to be used.
 
    Special Counsel Matthew Gaul is the new deputy superintendent for the life industry at the New York Insurance Department. He succeeds Kermitt Brooks, who remains first deputy superintendent and second-in-command at the department. Gaul’s responsibilities include overseeing the licensing, examination and regulation of life insurers and related entities, and oversight of the state’s public pension funds. The announcement came in a Dec. 10 press release.
 
    Rhode Island Amended Regulation 68 outlines the procedural requirements for insurance companies applying for the implementation of a commutation plan. The amendment adds a provision to allow the Insurance Department to accept a filing in which a modification or waiver has been made for good cause. It is effective Dec. 31.
 
 
(RR&B is produced with the assistance of The CLEAR Report and the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud.)
 
 
Copyright 2009 ProBusiness Publishing LLC

Publish date Dec 14 2009
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Reprinted with permission from Insurance Compliance Insight.
Copyright © 2009 ProBusiness Publishing LLC
Licensed from ProBusiness Publishing LLC. All rights reserved.