§ 26-14-106 — Rate regulation

Wyoming § 26-14-106

• Jurisdiction: Wyoming
• Title 26: Insurance Code
• Ch. 14: RATES AND RATING ORGANIZATIONS

Text

(a) Rates in a noncompetitive market, when regulated,
shall be regulated in accordance with W.S. 26-14-105 through
26-14-108 applicable to noncompetitive markets.
(b) The commissioner may regulate rates in an unregulated
market if he determines that:
(i) The unregulated market is a noncompetitive
market; and
(ii) Regulation will likely reduce rates for
consumers in a total amount greater than the cost of regulation
without substantially curtailing the availability of insurance
in that market.
(c) The commissioner may declare a noncompetitive market
competitive if he determines the noncompetitive market no longer
meets the conditions of a noncompetitive market as defined in
W.S. 26-14-103(a)(vii).
(d) To carry out the purpose of subsections (b) and (c) of
this section, the commissioner, upon his own motion, may conduct
a rate or other investigation. The commissioner shall conduct a
rate or other investigation upon request of:
(i) Not less than ten percent (10%) of the insureds
in any market;
(ii) Any organization representing not less than ten
percent (10%) of the insureds in any market; or
(iii) Insurers selling at least thirty percent (30%)
of the insurance in any market.
(e) The commissioner shall not be compelled to conduct an
investigation of any line of insurance pursuant to subsection
(d) of this section more than once in any three (3) year period
for any line of insurance but may do so.
(f) As a part of any investigation under subsection (d) of
this section the commissioner:
(i) May require any insurer to submit actuarial and
expense data relating to any line of insurance;
(ii) May contract the services of an actuarial
consultant and assess the cost thereof against the parties
requesting the investigation or against the insurers affected if
the investigation is conducted upon the commissioner's motion;
(iii) Shall conduct a hearing upon not less than
twenty (20) days written notice to affected parties, provided
this requirement may be waived upon written agreement of the
affected parties;
(iv) Depending upon the availability of data and the
existence of sufficient experience to allow for an actuarially
sound determination, may base any regulation of rates for any
line of insurance under this section on experience or loss data
for that line of insurance in:
(A) Wyoming alone;
(B) Wyoming and selected other states with
reasonably similar characteristics; or
(C) The United States as a whole excluding
states whose experience is atypical.
(g) For rates regulated pursuant to subsections (a) and
(b) of this section, there shall be a public hearing if within
any twelve (12) month period an insurer requests approval of a
base premium rate which when added to any other base premium
rates pending or approved within that twelve (12) month period
is twenty percent (20%) or more above the rate approved for the
previous rating period. For health care professional malpractice
insurance, a rate increase of more than twenty-five percent
(25%) in any specialty shall cause a consolidated hearing on the
rate increase. The informational hearing shall be held within
sixty (60) days of the request for approval unless the
commissioner delays the hearing for good cause. If the hearing
is delayed the commissioner shall notify the insurer and any
other person requesting notification of the reasons for the
delay.
(h) The following shall apply to any market found to be
noncompetitive pursuant to subsections (a) and (b) of this
section and to any professional liability insurance for any
health care provider licensed under title 33 of the Wyoming
statutes:
(i) The rate charged any individual insured shall not
exceed the base rate approved by the commissioner for the
insured's risk class by more than one hundred percent (100%),
unless the commissioner has established for the applicable risk
class a percentage limit of less than one hundred percent
(100%);
(ii) The rate charged an insured for extended
reporting coverage following expiration, termination or
nonrenewal of the insured's claims-made policy shall be subject
to the following:
(A) The rate shall be calculated according to a
formula set forth in the insured's policy, which formula shall
be subject to approval by the commissioner;
(B) The formula shall be expressed as a
percentage of the base rate for the insured's risk class or that
insured's underwritten rate;
(C) The percentage may be varied on a uniform
basis for each risk class by the length of time during which the
events covered by the extended reporting coverage may have
arisen; and
(D) If an individual elects to purchase the
extended reporting coverage before the renewal date of his
policy, the rates charged for the extended reporting coverage
shall be computed based on the relevant rates for that insured
before the renewal, not the rates that would be in effect upon
renewal.