Health
Kathy Donovan
Senior Compliance Counsel
Insurance Compliance Solutions
Thursday, February 4, 2010
January Closes with a Flurry of Activity
While we have seen a significant number of newly introduced bills across the states, the current 2010 legislative sessions are, for the most part, just getting underway with few enactments thus far. However, many states have continued to issue bulletins and directives applicable to multiple lines of business that address new requirements or concerns from the previous year. Wisconsin focused on the health insurance industry with its bulletin dated January 20th on the upcoming “Cancellation and Rescission Report.” Anticipated to be due on April 1st, this reporting requirement was enacted by Act 28 in 2009 and requires policy cancellations and rescissions affecting individual health insurance policies for the preceding year to be reported to the commissioner. So, the annual report due this year must include 2009 data. The Office of the Commissioner of Insurance has provided a reporting form for insurers’ use, but has also indicated it will be promulgating a rule which “clarifies the information to be reported, definitions of terms and the due date for reporting cancellations and rescissions.” Both health and life insurers were the focus of the Texas Department of Insurance when it issued its Bulletin B-0003-10 in early January. In response to its ongoing review of the use of discretionary clauses, initiated in response to a petition from the Office of Public Insurance Counsel, the Department has urged the life, accident, and health insurers to forego the filing of policy forms while it continues to consider promulgating a rule which would prohibit the use of such clauses. The use of discretionary clauses was addressed by three states in 2009: Idaho, Washington, and Wyoming.
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