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Emergency Regulation Requiring Health Insurers to Put More Premiums Into Medical Care, Not Overhead and Profits, Is Made Permanent
Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones today announced that the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) approved his request to make permanent the emergency regulation he issued last year requiring health insurers to put a larger share of premiums into actual medical care instead of overhead and profits. The regulation, issued by Commissioner Jones, requires that health insurers put at least 80 percent of premiums collected from individual policyholders into medical care. The regulation implements a key component and requirement of the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA). Read the Press Release http://www.insurance.ca.gov/0400-news/0100-press-releases/2012/release012-12.cfm (2/9/12)
Updated Life Insruance Agent Educational Objectives (LO EO) Approved and will take effect on February 1, 2012 on both the life agent examination and the life and accident/health license examination will be updated to reflect these changes. The Curriculum Board approved most of the SMEs’ suggested edits as well as the subcommittee’s recommendations. The updated LO EOs are now available at the following link that is on CDI’s Web site: http://www.insurance.ca.gov/0200-industry/0030-seek-pre-lic/0100-requirements/prelicensing-educational-objectivies.cfm. For your convenience, the LO EOs show the strikethroughs for the information that was deleted from the previous version and also underlines the added text. (12/8/11)
For more information: http://www.naifacalifornia.org/Advocacy/PDFdocs/DOI/Notice%20Updated%20Life%20Agent%20Educational%20Objectives%2012-16-11.pdf
Updated Accident and Health Agent Educational Objectives as of January 1, 2012 - The federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 are the principal health care reform laws. As a result of the new legislation, the Curriculum Board convened a subcommittee to review and amend the Accident and Health Agent Educational Objectives (AH EOs) to include material covering both PPACA and the California Health Benefit Exchange which was implemented to partially address the provisions of PPACA. In addition, the AH EOs were amended to also include curriculum on the Medical Loss Ratio; Major Risk Medical Insurance Program, California public coverage programs, and healthy families programs. For your convenience, the updated AH EOs are available on the California Department of Insurance’s (CDI) Web site at the following link: http://www.insurance.ca.gov/0200-industry/0030-seek-pre-lic/0100-requirements/prelicensing-educational-objectivies.cfm (12/8/11) For more information: http://www.naifacalifornia.org/Advocacy/
PDFdocs/DOI/ Notice_AH_Educational_Objectives_2011.pdf
California’s Annuity Training Requirements as of January 1, 2012 - All insurance producers who sell annuities should take a moment to review the attached Notice regarding California’s annuity training requirements. (12/6/11) For more information: http://naifacalifornia.org/Advocacy/PDFdocs/
DOI/NoticeAB689andAnnuityTraining.pdf
PSI Services, LLC, a California-based company providing state-based regulatory licensure services, will begin handling the scheduling of examinations for individuals licensed by the California Department of Insurance’s (CDI) Producer Licensing Bureau starting with examinations that are taken on April 2, 2011. Instructions for scheduling examinations will be posted on PSI’s website at www.psiexams.com (PSI News) beginning on March 7, 2011. Individuals may schedule their examinations with PSI either online or by telephone. (3-7-11)
New Health Care Options for Uninsured Children – The open enrollment period for the new health care options for children who are uninsured ends on March 1, 2011. If individuals wait and apply for coverage after March 1st, they could face much higher premium costs since there are no limits on premiums outside the open enrollment period. (2/11/11) For more information: http://www.insurance.ca.gov/0100-consumers/0020-health-related/CAOpenEnrollment.cfm
Guidance for 2010 health legislation (AB 2244, AB 2470, SB 1163) is available on the Department of Insurance website. Draft and Final guidance documents will be posted on the website as they become available. http://www.insurance.ca.gov/0250-insurers/0500-legal-info/0200-regulations/HealthGuidance/index.cfm (1/4/11)
Updated Educational Objectives for Personal Lines, Commercial and Limited Lines Automobile Agent licenses. The updated Personal Lines Broker-Agent, Commercial, and Limited Lines Automobile Agent EOs are available on the California Department of Insurance’s (CDI) Web site at the following link: http://www.insurance.ca.gov/0200-industry/0030-seek-pre-lic/0100-requirements/prelicensing-educational-objectivies.cfm (12/10/10)
AB 2782 Important Update – Accident and Health License Requirement Assembly Bill (AB) 2782 (Chapter 400, Statutes of 2010) will become effective on January 1, 2011. Included among the provisions of the bill is to require all individuals and business entities to hold an accident and health agent license to transact accident and health insurance. Section 1626(a)(2) of the California Insurance Code defines accident and health insurance as insurance coverage for sickness, bodily injury, or accidental death and may include benefits for disability income. Read Full DOI Update Notice (11/29/10)
Commissioner Poizner Urges Seniors To Protect Themselves From Predatory Insurance Agents “Seniors and their families should arm themselves with as much information as possible, and if anyone has a suspicion that they are being taken advantage of, I urge them to call the Department of Insurance immediately at 800-927-HELP.” Read Full Press Release (11/22/10)
The results are both good news and bad news for consumers, and show that California’s PPOs have much work to do in meeting customer needs. Read the full Press Release
The PPO 2010 report card is available now at 2010 Provider Report Card. The companion report card on HMOs will be released separately early next year. (11/18/10)
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