HB0631 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB096 04319 RPM 14365 b

96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2009 and 2010
HB0631

Introduced 2/6/2009, by Rep. Frank J. Mautino

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

215 ILCS 5/4

from Ch. 73, par. 616

Amends the Illinois Insurance Code. In the provisions concerning the classification of insurance and insurance businesses, provides that the insurance laws of this State, including the Act, do not apply to a religious organization or members of the organization when the organization adheres to specified provisions. Sets forth the verbatim written disclaimer that all such organizations shall provide on all applications for membership or participation. Effective immediately.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning insurance.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Illinois Insurance Code is amended by changing Section 4 as follows:

(215 ILCS 5/4) (from Ch. 73, par. 616)

Sec. 4. Classes of insurance. Insurance and insurance business shall be classified as follows:

Class 1. Life, Accident and Health.

(a) Life. Insurance on the lives of persons and every insurance appertaining thereto or connected therewith and granting, purchasing or disposing of annuities. Policies of life or endowment insurance or annuity contracts or contracts supplemental thereto which contain provisions for additional benefits in case of death by accidental means and provisions operating to safeguard such policies or contracts against lapse, to give a special surrender value, or special benefit, or an annuity, in the event, that the insured or annuitant shall become totally and permanently disabled as defined by the policy or contract, or which contain benefits providing acceleration of life or endowment or annuity benefits in advance of the time they would otherwise be payable, as an indemnity for long term care which is certified or ordered by a physician, including but not limited to, professional nursing care, medical care expenses, custodial nursing care, non-nursing custodial care provided in a nursing home or at a residence of the insured, or which contain benefits providing acceleration of life or endowment or annuity benefits in advance of the time they would otherwise be payable, at any time during the insured's lifetime, as an indemnity for a terminal illness shall be deemed to be policies of life or endowment insurance or annuity contracts within the intent of this clause.

Also to be deemed as policies of life or endowment insurance or annuity contracts within the intent of this clause shall be those policies or riders that provide for the payment of up to 75% of the face amount of benefits in advance of the time they would otherwise be payable upon a diagnosis by a physician licensed to practice medicine in all of its branches that the insured has incurred a covered condition listed in the policy or rider.

"Covered condition", as used in this clause, means: heart attack, stroke, coronary artery surgery, life threatening cancer, renal failure, alzheimer's disease, paraplegia, major organ transplantation, total and permanent disability, and any other medical condition that the Department may approve for any particular filing.

The Director may issue rules that specify prohibited policy provisions, not otherwise specifically prohibited by law, which in the opinion of the Director are unjust, unfair, or unfairly discriminatory to the policyholder, any person insured under the policy, or beneficiary.

(b) Accident and health. Insurance against bodily injury, disablement or death by accident and against disablement resulting from sickness or old age and every insurance appertaining thereto, including stop-loss insurance. Stop-loss insurance is insurance against the risk of economic loss issued to a single employer self-funded employee disability benefit plan or an employee welfare benefit plan as described in 29 U.S.C. 100 et seq. The insurance laws of this State, including this Act, do not apply to a religious organization or members of the organization when the organization:

(i) is a nonprofit religious organization;

(ii) is limited to participants who are members of the same religion;

(iii) facilitates payments between participants who have financial, physical, or medical needs and participants with the present ability to pay for the benefit of those participants with present financial, physical, or medical needs; nothing in this item (iii) shall prevent the organization from establishing qualifications of participation relating to the health of the prospective participant nor shall it prevent the participants from limiting the financial or medical needs that may be eligible for payment among the participants;

(iv) facilitates the payments provided for in item (iii) of this subsection (b) through payments made directly from one participant to another; the requirements of this item (iv) can be satisfied by means of payments between members made in person, through the United States postal service, expedited delivery service, or by wire or other form of electronic transfer;

(v) specifies amounts that participants may give with no assumption of risk or promise to pay either among the participants or between the participants and the organization; nothing in this item (v) shall prevent the organization from canceling the membership of a participant when that participant indicates their unwillingness to participate by failing to make a payment to another participant for a period in excess of 60 days; and

(vi) provides the following verbatim written disclaimer on all applications for membership or participation:

"NOTICE: This organization is not insurance or an insurance policy nor is it offered through an insurance company. Whether anyone chooses to assist you with your medical bills will be totally voluntary, as no other member will be compelled by law to contribute toward your medical bills. As such, this organization should never be considered to be insurance. Whether you receive any payments for medical expenses and whether or not this organization continues to operate, you are always personally responsible for the payment of your own medical bills. This organization is not subject to the regulatory requirements or consumer protections of your State's Insurance Code or Statutes.".

(c) Legal Expense Insurance. Insurance which involves the assumption of a contractual obligation to reimburse the beneficiary against or pay on behalf of the beneficiary, all or a portion of his fees, costs, or expenses related to or arising out of services performed by or under the supervision of an attorney licensed to practice in the jurisdiction wherein the services are performed, regardless of whether the payment is made by the beneficiaries individually or by a third person for them, but does not include the provision of or reimbursement for legal services incidental to other insurance coverages. The insurance laws of this State, including this Act do not apply to:

(i) Retainer contracts made by attorneys at law with individual clients with fees based on estimates of the nature and amount of services to be provided to the specific client, and similar contracts made with a group of clients involved in the same or closely related legal matters;

(ii) Plans owned or operated by attorneys who are the providers of legal services to the plan;

(iii) Plans providing legal service benefits to groups where such plans are owned or operated by authority of a state, county, local or other bar association;

(iv) Any lawyer referral service authorized or operated by a state, county, local or other bar association;

(v) The furnishing of legal assistance by labor unions and other employee organizations to their members in matters relating to employment or occupation;

(vi) The furnishing of legal assistance to members or dependents, by churches, consumer organizations, cooperatives, educational institutions, credit unions, or organizations of employees, where such organizations contract directly with lawyers or law firms for the provision of legal services, and the administration and marketing of such legal services is wholly conducted by the organization or its subsidiary;

(vii) Legal services provided by an employee welfare benefit plan defined by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974;

(viii) Any collectively bargained plan for legal services between a labor union and an employer negotiated pursuant to Section 302 of the Labor Management Relations Act as now or hereafter amended, under which plan legal services will be provided for employees of the employer whether or not payments for such services are funded to or through an insurance company.

Class 2. Casualty, Fidelity and Surety.

(a) Accident and health. Insurance against bodily injury, disablement or death by accident and against disablement resulting from sickness or old age and every insurance appertaining thereto, including stop-loss insurance. Stop-loss insurance is insurance against the risk of economic loss issued to a single employer self-funded employee disability benefit plan or an employee welfare benefit plan as described in 29 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.

(b) Vehicle. Insurance against any loss or liability resulting from or incident to the ownership, maintenance or use of any vehicle (motor or otherwise), draft animal or aircraft. Any policy insuring against any loss or liability on account of the bodily injury or death of any person may contain a provision for payment of disability benefits to injured persons and death benefits to dependents, beneficiaries or personal representatives of persons who are killed, including the named insured, irrespective of legal liability of the insured, if the injury or death for which benefits are provided is caused by accident and sustained while in or upon or while entering into or alighting from or through being struck by a vehicle (motor or otherwise), draft animal or aircraft, and such provision shall not be deemed to be accident insurance.

(c) Liability. Insurance against the liability of the insured for the death, injury or disability of an employee or other person, and insurance against the liability of the insured for damage to or destruction of another person's property.

(d) Workers' compensation. Insurance of the obligations accepted by or imposed upon employers under laws for workers' compensation.

(e) Burglary and forgery. Insurance against loss or damage by burglary, theft, larceny, robbery, forgery, fraud or otherwise; including all householders' personal property floater risks.

(f) Glass. Insurance against loss or damage to glass including lettering, ornamentation and fittings from any cause.

(g) Fidelity and surety. Become surety or guarantor for any person, copartnership or corporation in any position or place of trust or as custodian of money or property, public or private; or, becoming a surety or guarantor for the performance of any person, copartnership or corporation of any lawful obligation, undertaking, agreement or contract of any kind, except contracts or policies of insurance; and underwriting blanket bonds. Such obligations shall be known and treated as suretyship obligations and such business shall be known as surety business.

(h) Miscellaneous. Insurance against loss or damage to property and any liability of the insured caused by accidents to boilers, pipes, pressure containers, machinery and apparatus of any kind and any apparatus connected thereto, or used for creating, transmitting or applying power, light, heat, steam or refrigeration, making inspection of and issuing certificates of inspection upon elevators, boilers, machinery and apparatus of any kind and all mechanical apparatus and appliances appertaining thereto; insurance against loss or damage by water entering through leaks or openings in buildings, or from the breakage or leakage of a sprinkler, pumps, water pipes, plumbing and all tanks, apparatus, conduits and containers designed to bring water into buildings or for its storage or utilization therein, or caused by the falling of a tank, tank platform or supports, or against loss or damage from any cause (other than causes specifically enumerated under Class 3 of this Section) to such sprinkler, pumps, water pipes, plumbing, tanks, apparatus, conduits or containers; insurance against loss or damage which may result from the failure of debtors to pay their obligations to the insured; and insurance of the payment of money for personal services under contracts of hiring.

(i) Other casualty risks. Insurance against any other casualty risk not otherwise specified under Classes 1 or 3, which may lawfully be the subject of insurance and may properly be classified under Class 2.

(j) Contingent losses. Contingent, consequential and indirect coverages wherein the proximate cause of the loss is attributable to any one of the causes enumerated under Class 2. Such coverages shall, for the purpose of classification, be included in the specific grouping of the kinds of insurance wherein such cause is specified.

(k) Livestock and domestic animals. Insurance against mortality, accident and health of livestock and domestic animals.

(l) Legal expense insurance. Insurance against risk resulting from the cost of legal services as defined under Class 1(c).

Class 3. Fire and Marine, etc.

(a) Fire. Insurance against loss or damage by fire, smoke and smudge, lightning or other electrical disturbances.

(b) Elements. Insurance against loss or damage by earthquake, windstorms, cyclone, tornado, tempests, hail, frost, snow, ice, sleet, flood, rain, drought or other weather or climatic conditions including excess or deficiency of moisture, rising of the waters of the ocean or its tributaries.

(c) War, riot and explosion. Insurance against loss or damage by bombardment, invasion, insurrection, riot, strikes, civil war or commotion, military or usurped power, or explosion (other than explosion of steam boilers and the breaking of fly wheels on premises owned, controlled, managed, or maintained by the insured.)

(d) Marine and transportation. Insurance against loss or damage to vessels, craft, aircraft, vehicles of every kind, (excluding vehicles operating under their own power or while in storage not incidental to transportation) as well as all goods, freights, cargoes, merchandise, effects, disbursements, profits, moneys, bullion, precious stones, securities, chooses in action, evidences of debt, valuable papers, bottomry and respondentia interests and all other kinds of property and interests therein, in respect to, appertaining to or in connection with any or all risks or perils of navigation, transit, or transportation, including war risks, on or under any seas or other waters, on land or in the air, or while being assembled, packed, crated, baled, compressed or similarly prepared for shipment or while awaiting the same or during any delays, storage, transshipment, or reshipment incident thereto, including marine builder's risks and all personal property floater risks; and for loss or damage to persons or property in connection with or appertaining to marine, inland marine, transit or transportation insurance, including liability for loss of or damage to either arising out of or in connection with the construction, repair, operation, maintenance, or use of the subject matter of such insurance, (but not including life insurance or surety bonds); but, except as herein specified, shall not mean insurances against loss by reason of bodily injury to the person; and insurance against loss or damage to precious stones, jewels, jewelry, gold, silver and other precious metals whether used in business or trade or otherwise and whether the same be in course of transportation or otherwise, which shall include jewelers' block insurance; and insurance against loss or damage to bridges, tunnels and other instrumentalities of transportation and communication (excluding buildings, their furniture and furnishings, fixed contents and supplies held in storage) unless fire, tornado, sprinkler leakage, hail, explosion, earthquake, riot and civil commotion are the only hazards to be covered; and to piers, wharves, docks and slips, excluding the risks of fire, tornado, sprinkler leakage, hail, explosion, earthquake, riot and civil commotion; and to other aids to navigation and transportation, including dry docks and marine railways, against all risk.

(e) Vehicle. Insurance against loss or liability resulting from or incident to the ownership, maintenance or use of any vehicle (motor or otherwise), draft animal or aircraft, excluding the liability of the insured for the death, injury or disability of another person.

(f) Property damage, sprinkler leakage and crop. Insurance against the liability of the insured for loss or damage to another person's property or property interests from any cause enumerated in this class; insurance against loss or damage by water entering through leaks or openings in buildings, or from the breakage or leakage of a sprinkler, pumps, water pipes, plumbing and all tanks, apparatus, conduits and containers designed to bring water into buildings or for its storage or utilization therein, or caused by the falling of a tank, tank platform or supports or against loss or damage from any cause to such sprinklers, pumps, water pipes, plumbing, tanks, apparatus, conduits or containers; insurance against loss or damage from insects, diseases or other causes to trees, crops or other products of the soil.

(g) Other fire and marine risks. Insurance against any other property risk not otherwise specified under Classes 1 or 2, which may lawfully be the subject of insurance and may properly be classified under Class 3.

(h) Contingent losses. Contingent, consequential and indirect coverages wherein the proximate cause of the loss is attributable to any of the causes enumerated under Class 3. Such coverages shall, for the purpose of classification, be included in the specific grouping of the kinds of insurance wherein such cause is specified.

(i) Legal expense insurance. Insurance against risk resulting from the cost of legal services as defined under Class 1(c).

(Source: P.A. 90-741, eff. 8-13-98; 90-810, eff. 1-6-99.)

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.