MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

1997 Regular Session

To: Insurance

By: Senator(s) Kirby

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTIONS 83-5-77, 83-7-17, 83-9-3 AND 83-31-45, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REVISE CERTAIN FEES PAID BY INSURANCE COMPANIES TO THE COMMISSIONER OF INSURANCE IN ORDER TO CONFORM TO OTHER SECTIONS OF LAW OR TO ACTUARIAL PRACTICES; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES. 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. Section 83-5-77, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

83-5-77. For publication of annual statement (to be paid publishers), Forty Dollars ($40.00). The commissioner shall receive for copy of any record or paper in his office, Twenty-five Cents (25¢) per page, and Ten Dollars ($10.00) for certifying same, or any fact or data from the records of the office.

SECTION 2. Section 83-7-17, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

83-7-17. All life insurance companies other than fraternal beneficiary associations, authorized to do the business of life insurance in this state, are hereby required to print or stamp in conspicuous type on the face or first page of each and every policy sold to citizens of this state words indicating correctly and fully the kind and character of the policy. The same words shall also be printed or stamped on the back or title page of every such policy so that they may be easily seen and read when the policy is folded. Every such life insurance company shall submit to the commissioner for his approval the words required in this section to be printed on each policy, together with sample copy of every kind or class of policies offered for sale in this state; and every life insurance company shall print on each of its policies sold to citizens of this state such words as the insurance commissioner shall approve. The license of any insurance company doing business in this state may be revoked by the commissioner for violating any of the provisions of this section. A policy of life insurance shall not be issued or delivered in this state until the form has been approved and filed by the insurance commissioner.

The commissioner shall collect and pay into the General Fund in the State Treasury the following fees for services provided under this section:

FORM FEE

Each individual policy contract, including

revisions $15.00

Each group master policy or contract,

including revisions 15.00

Each rider, endorsement or amendment, etc. 10.00

  Each insurance application where written

application is required and is to be

made a part of the policy or contract 10.00

Each questionnaire 7.00

Charge for resubmission where payment is

not included with original submission 5.00

Additional charge for tentative approval same as above.

SECTION 3. Section 83-9-3, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

83-9-3. (1) No policy of accident and sickness insurance shall be delivered or issued for delivery to any person in this state unless:

(a) The entire money and other considerations therefor are expressed therein; and

(b) The time at which the insurance takes effect and terminates is expressed therein; and

(c) It purports to insure only one (1) person, except that a policy may insure, originally or by subsequent amendment, upon the application of an adult member of a family who shall be deemed the policyholder, any two (2) or more eligible members of that family, including husband, wife, dependent children or any children under a specified age which shall not exceed nineteen (19) years, and any other person dependent upon the policyholder; and

(d) The style, arrangement and overall appearance of the policy give no undue prominence to any portion of the text, and unless every printed portion of the text of the policy and of any endorsements or attached papers is plainly printed in lightfaced type of a style in general use, the size of which shall be uniform and not less than ten-point with a lowercase unspaced alphabet length not less than one hundred and twenty-point (the "text" shall include all printed matter except the name and address of the insurer, name or title of the policy, the brief description if any, and captions and subcaptions); and

(e) The exceptions and reductions of indemnity are set forth in the policy and, except those which are set forth in Section 83-9-5, are printed, at the insurer's option, either with the benefit provision to which they apply, or under an appropriate caption such as "Exceptions," or "Exceptions and Reductions," provided that if an exception or reduction specifically applies only to a particular benefit of the policy, a statement of such exception or reduction shall be included with the benefit provision to which it applies; and

(f) Each such form, including riders and endorsements, shall be identified by a form number in the lower left-hand corner of the first page thereof; and

(g) It contains no provision purporting to make any portion of the charter, rules, constitution or bylaws of the insurer a part of the policy unless such portion is set forth in full in the policy, except in the case of the incorporation of, or reference to, a statement of rates or classification of risks, or short-rate table filed with the commissioner.

(2) No individual or group policy covering health and accident insurance (including experience-rated insurance contracts, indemnity contracts, self-insured plans and self-funded plans), or any group combinations of these coverages, shall be issued by any commercial insurer doing business in this state which, by the terms of such policy, limits or excludes payment because the individual or group insured is eligible for or is being provided medical assistance under the Mississippi Medicaid Law. Any such policy provision in violation of this section shall be invalid.

(3) If any policy is issued by an insurer domiciled in this state for delivery to a person residing in another state, and if the official having responsibility for the administration of the insurance laws of such other state shall have advised the commissioner that any such policy is not subject to approval or disapproval by such official, the commissioner may, by ruling, require that such policy meet the standards set forth in subsection (1) of this section and in Section 83-9-5.

(4) The commissioner shall collect and pay into the Special Fund in the State Treasury designated as the "Insurance Department Fund" the following fees for services provided under this section:

FORM FEE

Each individual policy contract, including

revisions $15.00

Each group master policy or contract including

revisions 15.00

Each rider, endorsement or amendment, etc. 10.00

Each insurance application where written

application is required and is to be

made a part of the policy or contract 10.00

Each questionnaire 7.00

Charge for resubmission where payment is

not included with original submission 5.00

Additional charge for tentative approval same as above.

SECTION 4. Section 83-31-45, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

83-31-45. (1) The taxable premium or premium receipts of any mutual insurance company organized or admitted in this state under this chapter for the purpose of taxation under any law of this state shall be the gross premiums received for direct insurance upon property or risks in this state, deducting premiums upon policies not taken and premiums returned on cancelled policies and also any refund or return made to the policyholder other than for loss. Such mutual insurance companies shall pay into the State Treasury through the State Tax Commission a premium tax in accordance with the provisions of Section 27-15-103 et seq. * * *.

(2) In the event that the Mississippi Supreme Court or another court finally adjudicates that any tax levied prior to July 1, 1985, under the provisions of this section was collected unconstitutionally and that a liability for a credit or refund for such collection has accrued, then the rate of tax set forth above shall be increased to four percent (4%) for a period of six (6) years beginning July 1 following such adjudication.

SECTION 5. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 1997.