As of January 1, 2015 insurers and insurance groups will be required to assess the adequacy of their risk management systems and to periodically conduct an Own Risk and Solvency Assessment (ORSA) consistent with the National Association of Insurance Commissioner’s (NAIC) ORSA Guidance Manual. …
Read More California Enacts AB 584 Requiring Insurance Companies to File an ORSA Summary

PROPOSED RULE ON EMPLOYER INFORMATION REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

On September 5, 2013, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and Internal Revenue Service jointly issued proposed regulations implementing the Affordable Care Act’s information reporting requirements for insurers and certain employers. …
Read More Healthcare Update: Proposed Rule on Employer Information Reporting Requirements; Potential Fix for the “Doc Fix”

Continuing the controversy first discussed in our earlier article (a copy of which can be accessed here), uncertainty remains over whether the self-procurement tax and regulatory provisions of the Non-admitted and Reinsurance Reform Act, enacted as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, apply to non-admitted insurance procured from a captive insurance company. …
Read More Does NRRA Capture Captives?

New York’s highest court has agreed to rehear its June decision that held that a liability insurer found to have “breached its duty to defend…may not later rely on policy exclusions to escape its duty to indemnify the insured for a judgment against him.” …
Read More New York Highest Court to Reconsider Decision that Breach of Duty to Defend Precludes Later Reliance on Policy Exclusions

This program will offer an overview of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”). It will examine recent cases involving allegations that an insurer or its affiliate violated a fiduciary duty owed to an ERISA plan it serviced, with an emphasis on cases concerning “revenue sharing” with a mutual fund that the plan offers its participants. It is designed for in-house counsel, human resource managers and benefit specialists who focus on employee benefit matters.
Read More Please Join Us – ERISA Overview – Complimentary Seminar – October 2, 2013

In recent years, the use of captives to help life insurers finance perceived excess XXX and AXXX reserves has accelerated. The NAIC continues to monitor the emerging practice and has drawn considerable attention to the matter through its solicitation of opinions by various players in the industry as well as through the publication of white paper on the matter and actions by the Principle-Based Reserving Implementation (EX) Task Force at the NAIC’s Summer National Meeting. …
Read More FIO Showing Increased Willingness to Intervene on Use of Captives to Finance Perceived Excess Reserves

On August 24th, the Principle-Based Reserving Implementation (EX) Task Force (the “Task Force”) of the NAIC met at the NAIC Summer National Meeting. During the meeting, the Task Force set forth additional charges with respect to the use of captives by life insurers and determined that the NAIC needs to “further assess the solvency implications of life insurer-owned captive insurers and other alternative mechanisms in the context of [Principle-Based Reserving].”…
Read More NAIC Increases Focus on Use of Captives by Life Insurers

HHS SETTLES WITH HEALTH PLAN ON PHOTOCOPIER BREACH

On August 14, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that it had reached a $1.2 million settlement with Affinity Health Plan, Inc. (Affinity) to settle potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy and Security Rules. …
Read More Healthcare Update: HHS Settles with Health Plan on Photocopier Breach; FTC Allows Georgia Hospital Acquisition to Stand; HHS Awards $67 Million in Grants to “Navigators”

Edwards Wildman Speaker: Robert W. DiUbaldo

12:00 PM – 1:15 PM (Central Time)

Please join us on August 28 from noon to 1:15 pm (Central) for this free webinar. Attorneys from Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP and Surdyk & Baker, engineers from St. John-Mittelhauser & Associates and underwriting and claims professionals from the Catlin Group will discuss the recently enacted Illinois Hydraulic Fracking Regulatory Act and its potential consequences, and will answer your questions. …
Read More REMINDER: COMPLIMENTARY WEBINAR – FRACKING the NEW ALBANY SHALE: Legal and Technical Issues Arising from the Passage of the Illinois Hydraulic Fracturing Regulatory Act (HFRA)