Changes State Insurance Regulators Are Making For COVID-19

Atlanta Partner Brian Casey and New York Partner Zachary Lerner co-authored an article for Law360 examining what the powers of state insurance regulators in addressing a crisis such as the current COVID-19 situation. The authors note the importance of the state powers and that responses vary from state to state because “The extent of an insurance regulator’s emergency powers is not the same in each jurisdiction and can derive from a state governor’s executive policy powers or general police powers statutes or specific police powers statutes found in state insurance codes."

Casey and Lerner also highlight recently released state bulletins and note: “In some cases, these bulletins reflect new interpretations of applicable insurance laws or regulations or provisions of insurance policy or endorsement forms aimed at relieving adverse insurance coverage circumstances of insureds. If all else fails, an insurance commissioner can in many cases resort to issuing new administrative regulations on an expedited or emergency basis or simply suspend enforcement of insurance laws and regulations if the suspension achieves the goal of protecting insureds during a crisis.”

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