Florida Insurance Council - Covering Florida Since 1962
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel With the bill sponsoring citing privacy concerns, the House moved its genetic testing prohibition bill (HB 879) out of its first committee on March 13, 2019 with a vote of 11-3. The dissenting votes were from three of the five Democrats on the committee. The Senate version (SB 258)…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The House Insurance and Banking Subcommittee adopted a committee substitute for the vulnerable investor bill during its meeting on March 13, 2019. The committee substitute replaces the originally filed version of the bill. Some in the life insurance community are following this bill closely due to the employee training…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel SB 258 prohibits life insurers, long-term care insurers, and disability insurers from cancelling, limiting, or denying coverage or establishing different premiums based on the genetic information. The bill also prohibits these insurers from using genetic information or requiring genetic testing for any insurance purpose unless there is a diagnosis…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The bill to equalize the payment for long term care insolvencies by the Florida Life & Health Guaranty Association (FLAHIGA) passed its first House committee on March 7, 2019 in a very close vote. By a vote of 8-5, the House Insurance & Banking Subcommittee passed HB 673…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The bill to equalize the payment for long term care insolvencies by the Florida Life & Health Guaranty Association (FLAHIGA) passed its first Senate committee on March 4, 2019. By a vote 8-0, the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee passed SB 626 with a strike all amendment (687388) and…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel For the second Session, a genetic testing bill related to life insurance has been filed in the House and Senate. The House bill, HB 879, surfaced this week with a new sponsor, Rep. Williamson (R). Last year’s House sponsor, Rep. Brodeur, termed out in 2018. Historically, Rep. Williamson has…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel Language on life insurance agent lapse notification supported by NAIFA was included in the Senate omnibus insurance bill, SB 714, filed by Sen. Brandes (R) on February 5, 2019. The language in the Senate bill is similar to language circulated by FIC to the Life Committee last week. A…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel The life insurance interstate compact bill was filed in the House on February 1, 2019. HB 627 by Rep. Hart (D) is substantially similar to the Senate bill, SB 614, that was filed on January 30, 2019 by the Senate Banking and Insurance Chair, Sen. Broxson (R). The…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel Sen. Broxson (R), chair of the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee, filed the life insurance Interstate Compact bill, SB 614, on January 30, 2019. The 2019 Interstate Compact bill is the same as the one filed in 2018 which was also sponsored by Sen. Broxson, but did not get…
By: Katrina Callaway, FIC General Counsel On January 16, 2019, HB 301, an insurance omnibus bill, was filed by Rep. Santiago (R) that contains language proposed by the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA) requiring life insurers to notify agents by mail or electronically of the impending lapse in coverage. A variation…