In the News
Regulatory Update

• August 2020
• 

Regulator: Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey has appointed Evan Daniels as the new director of the state Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions.

Daniels currently serves as the unit chief counsel of the technology, innovation and privacy unit at the Office of the Arizona Attorney General, according to a statement from Ducey's office.

In Daniels' current role, he manages the team supporting consumer protection in litigation, investigations and in providing subject matter expertise, it said. That includes oversight of Arizona's first-in-the-nation regulatory “sandbox” for fintech, following the passage of legislation in 2018, it said.

Reinsurance: A reinsurance program used to cut health care premiums on Colorado's individual market got extended another five years under a bill signed by Gov. Jared Polis.

The reinsurance measure creates a new fee on health carriers to fund the state's reinsurance program and provide state subsidies to help low-income consumers, including undocumented individuals, enroll in health insurance plans.

The bill passed the Democrat-controlled legislature in June.

It will impose a 1.15% fee on nonprofit health insurers and a 2.1% fee on for-profit carriers based on premiums collected. The new fees will begin in July 2021, according to a fiscal note attached to the bill. The fees are estimated to generate roughly $94.9 million in revenue the first year, it said.

Liquidation: A Vermont Superior Court judge has approved a request by the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation to issue an order liquidating Global Hawk Insurance Co.

Judge Timothy Tomasi signed the order in June after the department found the company, a risk retention group domiciled in Vermont, was insolvent and that rehabilitation would be futile.

According to the state's petition for liquidation, Global Hawk at the end of 2019 reported assets of $42.7 million, including cash and invested assets of $36.7 million, and liabilities of $34.9 million.

By April 30, the company had 224 open cases and case reserves totaled $11.9 million—a figure 10 times greater than its liquid assets, it said.

Global Hawk's financial condition was even worse, it said, since that figure did not include losses incurred but not yet reported.

Genetic Information: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a bill prohibiting insurance companies from using an individual's genetic information to cancel, limit or deny life insurance policies or long-term care coverage.

According to a summary of the measure before it passed, Florida law prohibits health insurers from considering genetic information when issuing policies and when setting premium rates.

The prohibition, however, did not extend to issuers of life, long-term care and disability income insurance policies, it said.

This law now will cover them.