Assembly Bill A10537

                            
                    S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                  10537

                          I N  A S S E M B L Y

                              June 4, 2012
                               ___________

Introduced  by COMMITTEE ON RULES -- (at request of M. of A. Morelle) --
  read once and referred to the Committee on Insurance

AN ACT to amend the insurance law, in relation  to  the  replacement  of
  individual  life insurance policies or individual annuity contracts of
  any insurer

  THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section  1.  The  section  heading and subsections (a), (b) and (c) of
section 2123 of the insurance law,  subsections  (a),  (b)  and  (c)  as
amended  by  chapter  540 of the laws of 1996, paragraph 3 of subsection
(a) as added by chapter 616 of the laws of 1997, the  opening  paragraph
of paragraph 3 of subsection (a) as amended by chapter 13 of the laws of
2002, are amended to read as follows:
  Misrepresentations[,]   AND   misleading  statements  [and  incomplete
comparisons].
  (a) (1) No agent or representative of any insurer  or  health  mainte-
nance  organization  authorized  to  transact  life,  accident or health
insurance or health maintenance organization business in this state  and
no  insurance  broker,  and no other person, firm, association or corpo-
ration, shall issue or circulate or cause or  permit  to  be  issued  or
circulated,  any illustration, circular, statement or memorandum misrep-
resenting the terms, benefits or advantages of any policy or contract of
life, accident or health insurance, any annuity contract or  any  health
maintenance  organization  contract, delivered or issued for delivery or
to be delivered or issued for delivery, in this state, or shall make any
misleading estimate as to the dividends or share  of  surplus  or  addi-
tional  amounts to be received in the future on such policy or contract,
or shall make any false or misleading statement as to the  dividends  or
share  of  surplus  or  additional  amounts  previously paid by any such
insurer or  health  maintenance  organization  on  similar  policies  or
contracts, or shall make any misleading representation, or any misrepre-
sentation,  as  to the financial condition of any such insurer or health
maintenance organization, or as to the legal reserve system  upon  which
such insurer or health maintenance organization operates.

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
              

                                                           LBD11187-01-1

A. 10537                            2

  (2) No such person, firm, association or corporation shall make to any
person  or  persons  any incomplete [comparison] OR MISLEADING REPRESEN-
TATION of any such policies or contracts of any  insurer,  insurers,  or
health maintenance organization, for the purpose of inducing, or tending
to  induce,  such  person  or persons to lapse, forfeit or surrender any
insurance policy or health maintenance organization contract.
  (3) Any replacement of individual life insurance policies or  individ-
ual  annuity  contracts of an insurer by an agent, representative of the
same or different insurer or broker shall conform to  standards  promul-
gated  by  regulation  by  the  superintendent. Such regulation shall BE
CONSISTENT, TO THE GREATEST EXTENT PRACTICABLE AND IN THE PUBLIC  INTER-
EST,  WITH  THE  REPLACEMENTS REGULATION ADOPTED BY THE NATIONAL ASSOCI-
ATION OF INSURANCE COMMISSIONERS, AS AMENDED  FROM  TIME  TO  TIME,  AND
SHALL ALSO:
  (A) specify what constitutes the replacement of a life insurance poli-
cy or annuity contract and the proper disclosure and notification proce-
dures to replace a policy or contract;
  (B)  require  notification  of the proposed replacement to the insurer
whose policies or contracts are intended to be replaced; AND
  (C) [require the timely exchange of illustrative and cost  information
required  by section three thousand two hundred nine of this chapter and
necessary for completion of a comparison of the  proposed  and  replaced
coverage; and
  (D)] provide for a sixty-day period following issuance of the replace-
ment policies or contracts during which the policy or contract owner may
return  the policies or contracts and reinstate the replaced policies or
contracts.
  (b) [Any comparison of the policies or contracts of any such  insurer,
insurers  or  health  maintenance  organization shall be deemed to be an
incomplete comparison if it does not conform to all the requirements for
comparisons established by regulation.
  (c)] In the determination, judicial or otherwise, of  the  incomplete-
ness or misleading character of any such [comparison] REPRESENTATION, it
shall  not  be  presumed  that  the  insured knew or knows of any of the
provisions, terms or benefits  contained  in  any  insurance  policy  or
health maintenance organization contract.
  S  2.  The section heading and subsections (a), (b) and (c) of section
4226 of the insurance law, paragraph 6 of subsection  (a)  as  added  by
chapter 616 of the laws of 1997, are amended to read as follows:
  Misrepresentations[,]   AND   misleading  statements  [and  incomplete
comparisons] by insurers. (a) No insurer authorized to do in this  state
the business of life, or accident and health insurance, or to make annu-
ity contracts shall:
  (1)  issue or circulate, or cause or permit to be issued or circulated
on its behalf,  any  illustration,  circular,  statement  or  memorandum
misrepresenting the terms, benefits or advantages of any of its policies
or contracts;
  (2)  make  any  estimate of the dividends or share of surplus or addi-
tional amounts to be received on such policies or contracts;
  (3) make any false or misleading statement of the dividends  or  share
of  surplus  or  additional  amounts paid by any such insurer on similar
policies or contracts;
  (4) make any misleading representation, or  any  misrepresentation  of
the  financial  condition  of  any  such insurer or of the legal reserve
system upon which it operates; [or]

A. 10537                            3

  (5) make or deliver to any person or persons any  incomplete  [compar-
ison  of]  OR  MISLEADING  REPRESENTATION REGARDING any such policies or
contracts for the purpose of inducing, or tending to induce, such person
or persons to lapse,  forfeit  or  surrender  any  insurance  policy  or
contract[.]; OR
  (6) replace the individual life insurance policies or individual annu-
ity  contracts  of  an  insurer by the same or different insurer without
conforming to the standards promulgated by regulation by the superinten-
dent. Such regulation shall BE CONSISTENT, TO THE GREATEST EXTENT  PRAC-
TICABLE  AND  IN  THE  PUBLIC INTEREST, WITH THE REPLACEMENTS REGULATION
ADOPTED BY THE  NATIONAL  ASSOCIATION  OF  INSURANCE  COMMISSIONERS,  AS
AMENDED FROM TIME TO TIME, AND SHALL ALSO:
  (A) specify what constitutes the replacement of a life insurance poli-
cy or annuity contract and the proper disclosure and notification proce-
dures to replace a policy or contract;
  (B)  require  notification  of the proposed replacement to the insurer
whose policies or contracts are intended to be replaced; AND
  (C) [require the timely exchange of illustrative and cost  information
required  by section three thousand two hundred nine of this chapter and
necessary for completion of a comparison of the  proposed  and  replaced
coverage; and
  (D)] provide for a sixty-day period following issuance of the replace-
ment policies or contracts during which the policy or contract owner may
return  the policies or contracts and reinstate the replaced policies or
contracts.
  (b) [Any comparison of the policies or contracts of any  such  insurer
or  insurers  shall  be deemed to be an incomplete comparison if it does
not conform to all the requirements for comparisons established  by  the
superintendent by regulation.
  (c)]  In  any determination, judicial or otherwise, of the incomplete-
ness or misleading character of any such [comparison  or  of]  represen-
tation,  it  shall not be presumed that the insured knew or knows of any
of the provisions or benefits  contained  in  any  insurance  policy  or
contract.
  S 3. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
it shall have become a law.