§ 3436 — Medical malpractice insurance; type of coverage

* § 3436. Medical malpractice insurance; type of coverage. (a) Every\ninsurer which issues or renews policies for primary levels of medical\nmalpractice insurance covering physicians licensed to practice in this\nstate shall issue such policies on a claims-made or occurrence basis, as\nprescribed by the superintendent by regulation; provided, further, that\nnothing in this section shall preclude any insurer from applying\notherwise applicable underwriting standards in determining whether to\nissue or renew such policies.\n (b) A claims-made policy shall contain the following provisions:\n (1) if the insured has purchased a claims-made policy from an admitted\ninsurer for a period of five or more consecutive years and the insured,\nafter attaining the age of sixty-five or older, retires permanently and\ntotally from the practice of medicine or if the insured has purchased\nsuch a policy for a period of ten or more consecutive years, and the\ninsured, after attaining the age of fifty-five or older, retires\npermanently and totally from the practice of medicine, the insurer\nshall, without charging an additional premium therefor at the time of,\nor subsequent to, such retirement, also cover all occurrences between\nthe inception date of the first such consecutive policy from such\ninsurer and such retirement date which, subsequent to the termination\ndate, are reported in accordance with statutory and policy requirements;\n (2) if the insured dies or becomes permanently disabled and unable to\npractice medicine while covered by such a policy, the insurer shall,\nwithout charging an additional premium therefor at the time of, or\nsubsequent to, such event, also cover all occurrences between the\ninception date of the first such consecutive policy from such insurer\nand the death or disability of the insured; and\n (3) the insurer shall make available and shall advise the insured of\nthe availability and cost of coverage for occurrences between the\ninception date of the first such consecutive policy from such insurer\nand the termination of such policy which, subsequent to the termination\ndate, are reported in accordance with statutory and policy requirements,\npursuant to such terms and conditions as may be specified by the\nsuperintendent by regulation. The insured shall have the option of\npurchasing such coverage either in a single payment, or in three annual\ninstallments with an additional finance charge.\n (c) Such regulation shall also provide that if the coverage of an\ninsured who continues to practice in this state is transferred from an\nadmitted insurer or the medical malpractice insurance association to\nanother admitted insurer or the medical malpractice insurance\nassociation without any gap in coverage, the former entity shall pay\nover to the successor an actuarially appropriate dollar amount to\nprovide for the requirements of subsection (b) of this section, and the\ninsured shall be entitled to the benefits of such subsection as if such\ninsured had been continuously covered by the successor entity during the\nentire period of consecutive years of coverage.\n (d) Such regulation shall also provide that if the coverage of an\ninsured is transferred from an insurer in liquidation to another insurer\nnot in liquidation without any gap in coverage, then the successor\nentity shall accept the amounts payable from the property-casualty\ninsurance security fund as provided in subparagraph (G) of paragraph one\nof subsection (a) of section seven thousand six hundred three of this\nchapter, to provide for the requirements of subsections (b) and (c) of\nthis section, and the insured shall be entitled to the benefits of such\nsubsections as if such insured had been continuously covered by the\nsuccessor entity during the entire period of consecutive years of\ncoverage.\n (e) An insurer may issue a claims-made policy with more liberal policy\nprovisions than are required in this section, subject to the approval of\nthe superintendent. Such liberal policy provisions may include but not\nbe limited to a provision which, for all of the policyholders of the\ninsurer, grants credit toward the cost of the coverage provided in\nsubsection (b) of this section in proportion to the number of years the\ninsured has purchased a claims-made policy.\n * NB There are 2 § 3436's\n