Ariz. Admin. Code § 20-6-1010

Current through Register Vol. 30, No. 49, December 6, 2024

Section R20-6-1010 - Requirements for Application Forms and Replacement Coverage, Prohibition Against Preexisting Conditions and Probationary Periods in Replacement Policies or Certificates; Reporting Requirements

A. An insurer's application form for a long-term care insurance policy shall include the questions listed in this Section to elicit information as to whether, as of the date of the application, the applicant has another long-term care insurance policy or certificate in force or whether a long-term care policy or certificate is intended to replace any other health or long-term care policy or certificate presently in force. An insurer may include the questions in a supplementary application or other form to be signed by the applicant and insurance producer, except where the coverage is sold without an insurance producer. For a replacement policy issued to a group as defined in A.R.S. § 20-1691(5)(a), the insurer may modify the questions only to the extent necessary to elicit information about health or long-term care insurance policies other than the group policy being replaced if the certificateholder has been notified of the replacement.

1. Do you have another long-term care insurance policy or certificate in force (including health care service contract, health maintenance organization contract)?

2. Did you have another long-term care insurance policy or certificate in force during the last 12 months?

a. If so, with which company?

b. If that policy lapsed, when did it lapse?

3. Are you covered by Medicaid?

4. Do you intend to replace any of your medical or health insurance coverage with this policy or certificate?

B. The application or enrollment form for such policies or certificates shall clearly indicate the payment plan the applicant selects.

C. An insurance producer shall list any other health insurance policies the insurance producer has sold to the applicant, including:

1. Policies that are still in force, and

2. Policies sold in the past five years that are no longer in force.

D. Solicitations Other than Direct Response. On determining that a sale will involve replacement, an insurer, other than an insurer using direct response solicitation methods, or its insurance producer; shall furnish the applicant, before issuing or delivering the individual long-term care insurance policy, a notice that substantially conforms to the form prescribed in Appendix C or D regarding replacement of health or long-term care coverage. The insurer shall:

1. Give one copy of the notice to the applicant , and

2. Keep an additional copy signed by the applicant.

E. Direct Response Solicitations. Insurers using direct response solicitation methods as defined in A.R.S. § 20-1661 shall deliver a notice that substantially conforms to the form prescribed in Appendix C or D regarding replacement of health or long-term care coverage to the applicant upon issuance of the policy.

F. If replacement is intended, the replacing insurer shall send the existing insurer written notice of the proposed replacement within five working days from the date the replacing insurer receives the application or issues the policy, whichever is sooner. The notice shall identify the existing policy by name of the insurer and the insured, and policy number or insured's address including zip code.

G. A life insurance policy that accelerate benefits for long-term care shall comply with this Section if the policy being replaced is a long-term care insurance policy. If the policy being replaced is a life insurance policy, the insurer shall comply with the replacement requirements of Title 20, Chapter 6, Article 1.1. If a life insurance policy that accelerates benefits for long-term care is replaced by another such policy, the replacing insurer shall comply with the requirements of this Section and with A.R.S. Title 20, Chapter 6, Article 1.1.

H. Prohibition against preexisting conditions and probationary periods in replacement policies or certificates. If a long-term care insurance policy or certificate replaces another long-term care policy or certificate, the replacing insurer shall waive any time periods applicable to preexisting conditions and probationary periods in the new long-term care policy for similar benefits if similar exclusions are satisfied under the original policy.

I. Reporting requirements.

1. An insurer shall maintain the following records for each insurance producer:

a. The amount of the insurance producer's replacement sales as a percent of the insurance producer's total annual sales, and

b. The amount of lapses of long-term care insurance policies sold by the insurance producer as a percent of the insurance producer's total annual sales.

2. No later than June 30 of each year, on the forms specified in Appendix E and Appendix F, an insurer shall report the following information for the preceding calendar year to the Department:

a. The 10% of its insurance producers licensed in Arizona with the greatest percentages of lapses and replacements as measured by subsection (I)(1);

b. The number of lapsed policies as a percent of the total annual sales and as a percent of the insurer's total number of policies in force as of the end of the preceding calendar year;

c. The number of replacement policies sold as a percent of the insurer's total annual sales and as a percent of its total number of policies in force as of the end of the preceding calendar year; and

d. For qualified long-term care insurance contracts, the number of claims denied for each class of business, expressed as a percentage of claims denied.

J. In subsection (I):

1. "Claim" means a request for payment of benefits under an in-force policy, regardless of whether the benefit claimed is covered under the policy or any terms or conditions of the policy have been met.

2. "Denied" means the insurer refuses to pay a claim for any reason other than for claims not paid for failure to meet the waiting period or because of an applicable preexisting condition.

3. "Policy" means only long-term care insurance.

4. "Report" means on a statewide basis.

K. Reported replacement and lapse rates do not alone constitute a violation of insurance laws or necessarily imply wrongdoing. The reports are for the purpose of reviewing more closely agent activities regarding the sale of long-term care insurance. Reports required under this Section shall be filed with the Director.

L. Annual rate certification requirements. This subsection applies to any long-term care policy issued in Arizona on or after November 10, 2017. The following annual submission requirements apply subsequent to initial rate filings for individual long-term care insurance policies made under this Section:

1. An actuarial certification prepared, dated and signed by a member of the American Academy of Actuaries which contains a statement of the sufficiency of the current premium rate schedule, including:

a. For the rate schedules currently marketed, that the premium rate schedule continues to be sufficient to cover anticipated costs under moderately adverse experience and that the premium rate schedule is reasonably expected to be sustainable over the life of the form with no future premium increases anticipated or a statement that margins for moderately adverse experience may no longer be sufficient. For a statement that margins for moderately adverse experience may no longer be sufficient, the insurer shall provide to the Director, within 60 days of the date the actuarial certification is submitted to the Director, a plan of action, including a time frame, for the re-establishment of adequate margins for moderately adverse experience so that the ultimate premium rate schedule would be reasonably expected to be sustainable over the future life of the form with no future premium increases anticipated. Failure to submit a plan of action to the Director within 60 days or to comply with the time frame stated in the plan of action constitutes grounds for the Director to withdraw or modify approval of the form for future sales pursuant to A.R.S. § 20-1691.08.

b. For the rate schedules that are no longer marketed, that the premium rate schedule continues to be sufficient to cover anticipated costs under best estimate assumptions or that the premium rate schedule may no longer be sufficient. If the premium rate schedule is no longer sufficient, the insurer shall provide to the Director, within 60 days of the date the actuarial certification is submitted to the Director, a plan of action, including time frame, for the re-establishment of adequate margins for moderately adverse experience;

2. A description of the review performed that led to the statement; and

3. An actuarial memorandum dated and signed by a member of the American Academy of Actuaries who prepares the information shall be prepared to support the actuarial certification and provide at least the following information:

a. A detailed explanation of the data sources and review performed by the actuary prior to making the statement in subsection (L)(1),

b. A complete description of experience assumptions and their relationship to the initial pricing assumptions,

c. A description of the credibility of the experience data, and

d. An explanation of the analysis and testing performed in determining the current presence of margins.

4. The actuarial certification required pursuant to subsection (L)(1) must be based on calendar year data and submitted annually starting in the second year following the year in which the initial rate schedules are first used. The actuarial memorandum required pursuant to subsection (L)(3) must be submitted at least once every three years with the certification.

Ariz. Admin. Code § R20-6-1010

Adopted effective August 10, 1992 (Supp. 92-3). R20-6-1010 recodified from R4-14-1010 (Supp. 95-1). R20-6-1010 renumbered to R20-6-1013; new Section R20-6-1010 renumbered from R20-6-1007 and amended by final by final rulemaking at 10 A.A.R. 4661, effective January 3, 2005 (Supp. 04-4). Amended by final exempt rulemaking at 23 A.A.R. 1119, effective 11/10/2017.