Bill Text: NY S05705 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Provides for limited death benefit life insurance policies for persons aged 60 and over; authorizes the attorney general to enforce provisions; requires an insurer to provide consumers with a prescribed "Financial Review of Policy" form when it delivers or issues for delivery in this state an insurance policy or a certificate of insurance for persons aged 60 and over.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-05 - REFERRED TO CONSUMER PROTECTION [S05705 Detail]
Download: New_York-2021-S05705-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 5705 2021-2022 Regular Sessions IN SENATE March 16, 2021 ___________ Introduced by Sen. COMRIE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Consumer Protection AN ACT to amend the general business law, in relation to limited death benefit life insurance policies for persons aged sixty and over The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The general business law is amended by adding a new article 2 30-B to read as follows: 3 ARTICLE 30-B 4 FINANCIAL REVIEW REQUIREMENT FOR LIMITED 5 DEATH BENEFIT LIFE INSURANCE POLICIES FOR 6 PERSONS AGED SIXTY AND OVER 7 Section 645. Financial review of policy. 8 § 645. Financial review of policy. 1. Whenever a life insurance policy 9 or certificate of insurance is delivered or issued for delivery in this 10 state to an applicant at age sixty and over, which limits death benefits 11 during a period following the inception date of the policy or where the 12 accumulated premiums exceed the death benefit at any point during the 13 first ten years, the insurer shall provide the insured with a copy of a 14 "Financial Review of Policy" form of at least ten point in size. Such 15 form shall use substantially the same format and terminology shown 16 below, and shall have complete information provided for any and all 17 blank space. 18 Financial Review of Policy 19 Notice: You should review this form and your policy and 20 decide if the policy is suitable for you. If you are not 21 entirely satisfied, pursuant to New York State law, you may 22 return the policy within thirty days from the date you 23 receive it and obtain a full refund of any premiums paid. 24 This is a policy offered without an attempt to classify EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD07685-01-1S. 5705 2 1 risks by determining your state of health. Premiums may have 2 been lower if health information had been obtained. 3 Applicant Information: 4 Name: Age: Sex: 5 (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) 6 Col 3 7 Prem- minus 8 iums Col 2 9 End of Annual accum- Cash Net 10 Policy Prem- ulating Surren- gain 11 Year ium interest Death der (net 12 at 5% Benefits Value loss) 13 __________________________________________________________________ 14 1 15 2 16 3 17 4 18 5 19 6 20 7 21 8 22 9 23 10 24 Definitions. The following terms used in the above chart are 25 defined as: 26 1. Annual Premium -- Amount you must pay each year to keep this 27 policy in force. 28 2. Premiums Accumulating Interest at 5% -- Amount which could be 29 earned if, instead of purchasing insurance, the premium dollars 30 paid to the insurer were left to accumulate at 5% interest. 31 3. Death Benefits -- Amount that will be paid upon death, exclu- 32 sive of any supplementary benefits. 33 4. Cash Surrender Value -- Amount the insurance company will pay 34 you if you surrender your policy to the company for cash. 35 5. Net Gain or Loss -- This column shows whether your money 36 would have earned more or less at 5% interest than your life 37 insurance benefit. 38 2. Any consumer injured by a violation of this section may bring an 39 action for recovery of damages. Judgment shall be entered in favor of a 40 consumer in an amount not to exceed three times the actual damages or 41 one hundred dollars whichever is greater. The court may award reasonable 42 attorney's fees to a prevailing plaintiff. 43 3. In addition to the other remedies provided, whenever there shall be 44 a violation of this section, application may be made by the attorney 45 general in the name of the people of the state of New York to a court or 46 justice having jurisdiction by a special proceeding to issue an injunc- 47 tion, and upon notice to the defendant of not less than five days, to 48 enjoin and restrain the continuance of such violations; and if it shall 49 appear to the satisfaction of the court or justice that the defendant 50 has, in fact, violated this article, an injunction may be issued by such 51 court or justice, enjoining and restraining any further violation, with- 52 out requiring proof that any person has, in fact, been injured or 53 damaged thereby. In any such proceeding, the court may make allowances 54 to the attorney general as provided in paragraph six of subdivision (a) 55 of section eighty-three hundred three of the civil practice law andS. 5705 3 1 rules, and direct restitution. Whenever the court shall determine that a 2 violation of this article has occurred, the court may impose a civil 3 penalty of not more than five hundred dollars for each violation. In 4 connection with any such proposed application, the attorney general is 5 authorized to take proof and make a determination of the relevant facts 6 and to issue subpoenas in accordance with the civil practice law and 7 rules. 8 § 2. This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeed- 9 ing the date on which it shall have become a law.
