Iuppa to Speak at Annual Meeting
Alessandro Iuppa, superintendent of the Maine Bureau of Insurance and president-elect of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), will speak at NOLHGA's 22nd Annual Meeting, which will be held October 25 and 26, 2005, at the Westin Resort, Hilton Head Island in Hilton Head, S.C.
Iuppa has served as Maine's superintendent of insurance since January 1998. He was elected president-elect of the NAIC in December 2004, and he will assume the office of president in December 2005. He currently serves on a number of NAIC committees, including the Executive Committee, Reinsurance Task Force, and International Insurance Committee. He is also designated by the NAIC to represent the United States at the International Association of Insurance Supervisors, where he serves as chair of the Executive Committee. During the past several years he has made numerous presentations on insurance matters in China, India, South Africa, Japan, and Europe.
More news about NOLHGA's 22nd Annual Meeting will appear in future issues of the NOLHGA Wire and other NOLHGA publications.
Staff Contact - Sean McKenna States General Life Insurance Company (Tex.)Reinsurance Agreement Closes
On July 1, 2005, NOLHGA and New Era Life Insurance Company closed an assumption reinsurance agreement pursuant to which New Era assumed States General's in-force Medicare Select business (about 639 policies). Policy and claims administration for this line of business by CHCS Services Inc., on behalf of the affected associations was terminated as of June 24, and New Era has taken over administration of the business.
Task Force Chair - Tad Rhodes; Staff Contact - Joni ForsytheLegal Seminar & MPC Deadlines Approaching
The deadline for hotel reservations at the Stein Eriksen Lodge in Park City, Utah--site of the upcoming MPC meeting (August 16 and 17) and NOLHGA's 13th Annual Legal Seminar (August 18 and 19)--is July 25, 2005. The registration deadline for both meetings is also July 25.
Hotel information and meeting registration are available on the joint Legal Seminar/MPC meeting Web page. The page also includes biographies of Legal Seminar speakers and other meeting information.
The Legal Seminar will feature presentations on a variety of guaranty association and receivership issues, and the seminar has been or is expected to be approved in all states that require CLE. Credit for insurance department continuing education and CPE has also been granted in the past on an individual basis.
Please call Aimee Frye at 703.787.4115 or e-mail Meg Melusen at [email protected] for additional information about the seminar.
Staff Contact -Texas GA Law Revised
Texas Gov. Rick Perry signed HB2883 into law on June 17, 2005. This law revises the enabling statute of the Texas Life, Accident, Health and Hospital Service Insurance Guaranty Association to reflect the substantive components of the current NAIC Life & Health Insurance Guaranty Association Model Act.
The revisions include (1) increasing health insurance coverage to an individual from $200,000 for any type of health insurance to $500,000 for comprehensive health insurance policies and $200,000 for other health insurance policies; (2) setting coverage limits of $300,000 for long-term care and disability policies; (3) changing the application of the $100,000 annuity coverage limit to a per insured life basis rather than per owner; (4) introducing a $100,000 limit of coverage for the Texas payees of structured settlement annuities; (5) introducing a $5 million coverage limit for corporate-owned life insurance policies; (6) introducing a $300,000 aggregate coverage limit per person (unless a comprehensive health policy is involved, in which case the aggregate limit is $500,000); (7) increasing the annual assessment capacity from 1% of annual premiums to 2%; (8) changing the premium tax offset from 10% per year for 10 years to 20% per year for 5 years; (9) adopting the substantive portions of the Model Act's assessment language; and (10) introducing additional technical clarifications through the residency, principal place of business, and plan sponsor definitions from the Model Act.
The law will take effect on September 1, 2005, and will only apply to insolvencies occurring on or after that date. Existing insolvencies will continue to be administered under the present statute. If you have questions regarding this change, please contact Bart Boles at 800.982.6362 or [email protected].
Staff Contact - Sean McKennaNAIC Schedules Public Hearing on Proposed New Receivership Model
The NAIC's Financial Condition (E) Committee has scheduled a public hearing to receive comments and testimony from interested parties concerning the NAIC's proposed new receivership model. The hearing is scheduled for August 2 and 3, 2005, and will be held at the Embassy Suites in downtown Chicago. The first day of the hearing will be a public session open for comments by interested parties. On the second day, the public session is expected to end at 2:00 p.m. when the committee will go into closed session to conduct its deliberations. NAIC staff has advised that an agenda for the two-day session will be released shortly.
If adopted by the E Committee during this interim session, the proposed receivership model may be presented for formal adoption by the NAIC Executive Committee and NAIC Plenary at the NAIC's Fall National Meeting in September. The deadline for submitting written comments for consideration by the committee is July 14. Comments should be directed to the attention of Karen Schutter, managing counsel of the NAIC, at [email protected]. A copy of the proposed receivership model as adopted by the NAIC's Receivership and Insolvency Task Force on May 18 is available on the NAIC Web site. You may also request a copy by contacting Aimee Frye at 703.787.4115.
Staff Contact - Joni ForsytheBush Administration Opposes TRIA Renewal
On June 30, 2005, the Treasury Department released a report on the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002 (TRIA) assessing the effectiveness of the program and the need for its renewal. In a letter sent by Treasury Secretary John W. Snow to Senate Banking Committee Chair Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) and Ranking Member Paul Sarbanes (D-Md.) and House Financial Services Committee Chair Michael Oxley (R-Ohio) and Ranking Member Barney Frank (D-Mass.), Secretary Snow wrote that "while TRIA has been effective in achieving its temporary objectives," the administration opposes renewal of the program in its current form.
According to the letter, the administration believes that "continuation of the program in its current form is likely to hinder the further development of the insurance market by crowding out innovation and capacity building." The letter states that the administration would accept an extension of TRIA "only if it includes a significant increase to $500 million of the event size that triggers coverage, increases the dollar deductibles and percentage co-payments, and eliminates from the program certain lines of insurance, such as Commercial Auto, General Liability, and other smaller lines, that are far less subject to aggregation risks and should be left to the private market."
Staff Contact - Sean McKenna