June 23, 2014

IIABNY

New York legislators have passed a bill that will put an end to abusive certificates of insurance requests from businesses and government agencies.  The passage of this bill marks a significant victory for The Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of New York (IIABNY), which managed to pass through its top legislative priority. 

This bill will permit the use of only certificate forms created by insurance companies and recognized industry-setting organizations.  The certificate cannot change the coverage provide by underlying insurance policy and does not confer any additional rights beyond what the policy provides.

The bill will also prohibit from requesting a certificate that contains terms, conditions or other language that is not found in the policy, requiring a producer to issue an opinion letter or similar document that violates any of the bill’s prohibitions, requiring a certificate to warrant that the insurance policy complies with the requirements of a particular contract, and requiring a certificate that inaccurately states the insurance coverages, purports to change the coverage, or to grant rights beyond those stated in the policy.

This is all great news for brokers who no longer have the pressure to make their clients happy by altering the certificate of insurance. Besides, there is a much better and easier way to make your clients happy: offering them workers compensation premium recovery.  In a couple of short months, your clients’ past and current experience mods will be knocked down with refunds and credits to follow shortly thereafter. What would make a client happier than getting refunds on old premiums?