Employee Options: Coronavirus

REPRIEVE IN PAYMENT OF INSURANCE PREMIUMS

As the Coronavirus crisis makes it much more difficult for employers to make premium payments and disrupts the submission and processing of insurance claims, we wanted to alert clients about the California Department of Insurance (DOI) issuance of two significant notices requesting leniency from carriers during this extraordinary and challenging time.
On March 18, 2020, the DOI requested all insurance companies to provide a 60-day grace period for California companies to pay insurance premiums so that insurance policies are not canceled for nonpayment of premium. And last Friday, the DOI issued a second notice advising insurance companies that they should “not attempt to enforce policy or statutory deadlines” on policyholders until ninety (90) days after the end of the statewide Coronavirus state of emergency. This includes the submission of proofs of loss, claim forms, and any other policy, statutory, or insurer-imposed deadlines, where the failure to comply could result in the forfeiture or limitation of benefit rights under the policy
With these notices from the DOI, employers may challenge an insurance carrier that attempts to cancel or not renew a policy, or that denies a claim based on failure to submit timely information. Here are the DOI Notices.

www.insurance.ca.gov
Please feel free to contact Dawn with any questions: dcoulson@eppscoulson.com