Alaska to Require New Filing Approvals

The Alaska Division of Insurance issued Bulletin B 10-08 recently to provide notice of Order R10-04 repealing the exemption of certain products, including disability, from filing and approval requirements. Beginning January 1, 2011, all new or revised forms must be filed for prior approval by Alaska. Forms not filed prior to January 1, 2011 are not required to be filed for approval unless they are amended.

Alaska now joins Michigan in the ranks of states that have rescinded relatively long standing exemptions from filing and approval requirements in 2010. As the Massachusetts Insurance Division collects survey data from disability insurers, it will be interesting to see what may come of their exemption for the filing of group disability forms for approval as well.

Delaware - EFT Required for SERFF Filings Starting November 1

On September 27th, the Delaware Insurance Department issued Bulletin No. 33 requiring use of Electronic Funds Transfers (EFT) for rate, form, rule and advertisement filings that are submitted using the System for Electronic Rate and Form Filings (SERFF). The new EFT requirement is effective November 1, 2010.

Senate Hearings on Disability Insurance

The Senate Finance Committee held a hearing in Washington last week on the question “Do Private Long-Term Disability Policies Provide the Protection They Promise?”


The hearing was attended by only 3 of the 23 Senators that make up the committee, a fact that was lamented by Senator Baucus (D-MT), the committee chairman, in his closing remarks.

The committee heard testimony from a vocational rehabilitation counselor, a judge from an AL district court, a prominent disability plaintiffs’ attorney, an ACLI representative and a deputy commissioner from the Social Security Administration.

The hearing was largely a forum on the extent to which there’s “something broken” with long term disability insurance and the degree to which ERISA serves to harm the interests of claimants.

Of note, one of the 3 senators attending remarked that ERISA jurisdiction does not rest with the Finance Committee and seemed more intent on discussing LTD as it pertains to the Social Security disability application process. Another senator suggested that the GAO study the 50 states to see if issues might be better addressed by alternative courses of action at the state level. Committee chairman Baucus did voice his determination to bring his findings to the Senate committee that has jurisdiction over ERISA, in the hope of fixing the perceived problem with private disability insurance.

Notwithstanding the sparse turnout by the committee membership, the hearing did represent at least another indication that the role ERISA plays in regulating employee benefit plans may yet be subject to a more searching examination in Congress.