2015 Hawaii Revised Statutes
TITLE 24. INSURANCE
431. Insurance Code
431:10B-108 Filing, approval, and withdrawal of forms and premium rates.

§431:10B-108 Filing, approval, and withdrawal of forms and premium rates. (a) All policies, certificates of insurance, notices of proposed insurance, applications for insurance, endorsements, and riders delivered or issued for delivery in this State and the schedules of premium rates pertaining thereto shall be filed with the commissioner for approval. Each filing shall be accompanied by a $20 fee payable to the commissioner, which fee shall be deposited in the commissioner's education and training fund. Forms and rates so filed shall be approved at the expiration of forty-five days after filing, unless earlier approved or disapproved by the commissioner. The commissioner by written notice to the insurer, within the forty-five-day period, may extend the period for an additional thirty days.

(b) The commissioner, within the waiting period or any extension thereof after the filing of the policies, certificates of insurance, notices of proposed insurance, applications for insurance, endorsements, and riders and premium rates, shall disapprove any form or any premium rates if:

(1) The benefits provided are not reasonable in relation to the premium charge; or

(2) The form contains provisions that are:

(A) Unjust, unfair, inequitable, misleading, or deceptive;

(B) Encourage misrepresentation of the coverage; or

(C) Are contrary to any provision of this code or of any rule adopted thereunder.

(c) The benefits provided by the policy form shall not be deemed reasonable in relation to the premium charged or to be charged if the ratio of losses incurred to premiums earned is not at least sixty per cent. The commissioner may adopt by rules prima facie acceptable premium rates that shall reasonably be expected to produce a sixty per cent loss ratio. The prima facie rates shall be usable without actuarial or statistical justification when filed together with an otherwise acceptable policy form; provided that the ratio of losses for the most recent three years is at least sixty per cent. The rules shall specify the plans of benefits to which the premium rates shall apply.

(d) The commissioner shall approve deviations to rates higher than the prima facie acceptable rates upon filing of reasonable evidence that loss experience for a creditor or a class of creditors exceeds the average loss experience used to determine the prima facie rates if the commissioner determines the use of the higher rates will result in a ratio of claims incurred to premiums earned that is not less than sixty per cent. Except where the deviated rate exceeds the prima facie rate for reducing term credit life insurance and its actuarial equivalent for other forms of credit life insurance, a reasonable variance from the sixty per cent loss ratio standard may be required. The deviation may be limited to the debtors or creditors whose experience was the statistical basis for the filing.

(e) Whenever the commissioner determines it to be prudent, the commissioner may require insurers to file information as the commissioner deems necessary to determine whether the approved deviation from prima facie rates is still justified. If the commissioner determines the insurer's loss experience no longer justifies a deviation from the prima facie rates, then, upon giving notice as required in subsection (g), the commissioner shall disapprove the deviation and any form including the rate set forth therein.

(f) Credit life insurance policies for which premium rates vary by individual ages or by age brackets shall be filed as provided in this section. The commissioner shall approve or disapprove the filings in accordance with the sixty per cent loss ratio standard and the other applicable provisions of law.

(g) If the commissioner notifies the insurer that the form or premium rate is disapproved, it shall be unlawful thereafter for the insurer to issue or use the form or premium rate. In the notice, the commissioner shall specify the reason for the commissioner's disapproval and state that a hearing will be granted within twenty days after request in writing by the insurer. No policy, certificate of insurance, or notice of proposed insurance, nor any application, endorsement, or rider, or premium rate, shall be issued or used until the expiration of forty-five days after it has been so filed, unless the commissioner gives the commissioner's prior written approval.

(h) The commissioner at any time after hearing held not less than twenty days after written notice to the insurer, may withdraw the commissioner's approval of a form or premium rate on any ground set forth in subsection (b). The written notice of the hearing shall state the reason for the proposed withdrawal.

(i) It shall be unlawful for the insurer to issue or use forms or premium rates after the effective date of their withdrawal.

(j) If a group policy of credit life insurance or credit disability insurance:

(1) Has been delivered in this State before July 1, 1969, or

(2) Has been or is delivered in another state before or after July 1, 1969, the insurer shall be required to file only the group certificate and notice of proposed insurance delivered or issued for delivery in this State as specified in subsections (b) and (e) of section 431:10B-107. The forms shall be approved by the commissioner if:

(i) They conform with the requirements specified in those subsections;

(ii) They are accompanied by a certification in a form satisfactory to the commissioner that the substance of the forms are in substantial conformity with the master policy; and

(iii) The schedules of premium rates applicable to the insurance evidenced by the certificate or notice are not in excess of the insurer's schedules of premium rates filed with and approved by the commissioner;

provided the premium rate in effect on existing group policies may be continued until the first policy anniversary date following July 1, 1969.

(k) Any order or final determination of the commissioner under this section shall be subject to chapter 91. [L 1987, c 347, pt of §2 as superseded by c 348, §16; am L 1988, c 363, §3; am L 1989, c 207, §12; am L 2000, c 182, §10; am L 2004, c 122, §38]