PIA Asks NAIC to Revise Consumer Privacy Model to Address Independent Agent Needs

Data breaches have increasingly affected every industry that collects consumer nonpublic personal information (NPI). Insurance consumers’ data has been subjected to breaches, too, even though sensitive health information is specially protected by safeguards set forth in the Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act (HIPAA), and other insurance data is protected by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) of 1999. Insurance agents and brokers …

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PIA to FTC: Independent Agencies Need Non-Competes

Earlier this year, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that would ban the use of non-compete provisions and non-compete agreements between employers and workers. The NPRM invited members of the public to comment during a 60-day period, which ended on March 20. Independent agency owners are among millions of insurance-related businesses that rely …

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Outcomes of Key Races Remain Unclear, House and Senate Majorities Uncertain

After months of campaigning, the midterm congressional and state elections concluded yesterday. At the federal level, all 435 House seats and 35 of the 100 Senate seats were up for grabs, with the outcome to determine who will control Congress for the next two years. At the time of this posting on Wednesday morning, the …

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NAIC Adopts Rebating Changes to Unfair Trade Practices Model

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ (NAIC) Executive Committee has adopted language that would allow for some types of “rebates” to be offered to consumers, unanimously approving amendments to Section 4(H) (“Rebating”) of the NAIC Unfair Trade Practices Act (Model #880) (UTPA). The revised language permits insurers or producers to “[o]ffer or give non-cash gifts, …

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Commissioner Spotlight: South Carolina Director Ray Farmer

In the latest entry in our Commissioner Spotlight series, we are focusing on the head of the South Carolina Department of Insurance (SCDOI), Director Ray Farmer. Dir. Farmer served as vice president of the American Insurance Association (AIA, now APCIA), a trade association for insurance carriers. He spent the early part of his regulatory career as …

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NAIC Makes Progress on Rebating Revisions

State interpretation and application of anti-rebating laws varies, and, about a year ago, those variations prompted the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ (NAIC) Innovation and Technology Task Force, led by Commissioner Jon Godfread (ND), to further investigate the section of the Unfair Trade Practices Act (Model #880) that addresses rebating. Prompted by that investigation, the Task Force tasked a …

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Insurance Commissioners Vote to Reexamine Rebating

During the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ (NAIC) recent Fall National Meeting in Austin, TX, the Innovation and Technology Task Force, led by Commissioner Jon Godfread (ND), voted to develop amendments to the Unfair Trade Practices Act (Model #880) to address rebating. Commissioner Godfread noted that anti-rebating laws have existed in some form or another …

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Commissioner Spotlight: Maine Superintendent Eric Cioppa

In the first entry in our new “Commissioner Spotlight” series, we are focusing on the head of the Maine Bureau of Insurance, Superintendent Eric Cioppa. Superintendent Cioppa began his career in insurance as a statistician for the Insurance Bureau before becoming Supervisor of Maine’s Workers’ Compensation Section. After that, he became Deputy Superintendent in 1998. …

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States Enact Data Security Measures: New Hampshire

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) Insurance Data Security Model Law (MDL-668) was finalized in October 2017 and subsequently passed in South Carolina, Ohio, Michigan, Mississippi, Alabama, Delaware, and New Hampshire. The NAIC’s 2017 passage of its model law set the stage for several state legislatures to include it on their legislative calendars beginning in 2018 …

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States Enact Data Security Measures: Delaware

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) Insurance Data Security Model Law (MDL-668) was finalized in October 2017 and subsequently passed in South Carolina, Ohio, Michigan, Mississippi, Alabama, Delaware, and New Hampshire. Moreover, the NAIC model borrowed heavily from the New York Department of Financial Services Cybersecurity Regulation (23 N.Y.C.R.R. Part 500). The NAIC’s 2017 passage of …

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