O F F I C E O F L E G I S L A T I V E R E S E A R C H
P U B L I C A C T S U M M A R Y
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PA 23-127—sSB 1039
Insurance and Real Estate Committee
AN ACT CONCERNING TH E INSURANCE DEPARTME NT’S
RECOMMENDATIONS REGA RDING FINANCIAL REGU LATION, LIFE
INSURANCE AND INSURA NCE LICENSING REQUIR EMENTS AND
TECHNICAL CORRECTION S AND REVISIONS TO T HE LIFE AND
HEALTH INSURANCE STA TUTES
SUMMARY: This act makes several unrelated changes to the insurance statutes.
Specifically, it does the following:
1. authorizes the insurance commissioner to require people and entities to pay
Insurance Department fees electronically and establishes a waiver process
for the requirement (§ 1);
2. requires certified reinsurers and reciprocal jurisdiction reinsurers to pay the
Insurance Department a fee of $2,000 for each regulatory certificate issued
and renewed (§ 1);
3. allows non-resident persons or entities to get a nonresident state license in
Connecticut and designate Connecticut as their home state if their resident
state does not offer the same or equivalent license (§ 2);
4. explicitly applies certain provisions of the general licensing statute to any
licensee or license applicant, including an insurance producer licensee or
applicant (§ 2); and
5. makes technical corrections to the applicability of the health insurance
statutes requiring dependent coverage, specifically by removing references
to accident-only policies, which do not cover a dependent’s illness-related
expenses (§§ 3-10).
Additionally, the act prohibits certain health insurance policies, beginning
January 1, 2024, from discriminating between people on the basis of gender identity
or expression, sexual orientation, or age with respect to health insurance coverage
for medically necessary infertility diagnosis and treatment. It also revises the
parameters for policies covering infertility-related expenses to conform to the
federal Affordable Care Act (§§ 11 & 12).
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2023
§ 1 — STATUTORY INSURANCE FEES
Electronic Payment
The act authorizes the insurance commissioner to require people and entities to
pay fees to the Insurance Department electronically. However, it requires the
commissioner to waive this requirement for any person or entity that requests it if
he determines that (1) compliance is impractical or causes undue hardship or (2) O L R P U B L I C A C T S U M M A R Y
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good cause otherwise exists.
Reinsurer Fees
The act creates two statutory fees for certified reinsurers and reciprocal
jurisdiction reinsurers, setting each fee at $2,000 for each certificate issued or
renewed. State law and regulations require these reinsurers to apply to the
department for certification.
§ 2 — INSURANCE LICENSURE REQUIREMENTS
Non-Resident Licenses
The act sets eligibility requirements for people or entities to get certain non-
resident licenses from the Insurance Department. It allows non-resident persons or
entities to apply for and get a nonresident state license and designate Connecticut
as their home state if their resident state does not offer the same or equivalent
resident license and they maintain a principal place of business in Connecticut.
This applies to the following licenses: public adjuster, casualty adjuster, motor
vehicle physical damage appraiser, certified insurance consultant, surplus lines
broker, or any insurance-related occupation for which a license is deemed necessary
by the commissioner, other than an insurance producer.
Insurance Producers
In 2014, a Connecticut court ruled that because the legislature adopted specific
insurance producer requirements in 2001 (PA 01-113), the general licensing statute
does not apply to insurance producers (Lagueux v. Leonardi, 148 Conn. App. 234
(2014)). The act explicitly applies certain provisions of the general insurance
licensing statute (i.e., CGS § 38a-769(b)-(i)) to any licensee or license applicant,
including an insurance producer licensee or applicant (e.g., the applicant must
prove to the commissioner that he or she is financially responsible and of sound
moral character).
§§ 11 & 12 — MANDATED HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE F OR
INFERTILITY DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT
Changes to Conform to Federal Law
By law, certain individual and group health insurance policies must cover the
medically necessary costs of diagnosing and treating infertility (i.e., being unable
to conceive or produce conception or sustain a successful pregnancy during a one-
year period or the treatment is medically necessary).
Prior law allowed insurers to impose certain limits on the coverage (e.g.,
number of attempts, among other things). The act eliminates the ability of a policy
to (1) limit infertility coverage to those (a) under age 40 and (b) who had coverage O L R P U B L I C A C T S U M M A R Y
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under the policy for at least 12 months and (2) require an insured to disclose any
previous infertility treatment covered under a different policy. These changes
generally conform the coverage provision to the federal Affordable Care Act and
codify the Insurance Department’s Bulletin HC-125 (2019).
Nondiscrimination Provision
The act prohibits certain individual and group health insurance policies from
discriminating between people on the basis of gender identity or expression, sexual
orientation, or age with respect to health insurance coverage for medically
necessary infertility diagnosis and treatment. However, a policy may consider age
as a factor when determining medical necessity, using guidelines from the
American Society for Reproductive Medicine or a comparable organization. Under
the act, this nondiscrimination provision does not apply when a religious employer
or individual excludes infertility coverage from a policy due to their religious
tenets, as allowed by law.
By law, “gender identity or expression” is a person’s gender-related identity,
appearance, or behavior, whether or not it differs from that traditionally associated
with the person’s physiology or assigned sex at birth. It can be shown by providing
evidence in various ways, including (1) medical history; (2) care or treatment of the
gender-related identity; (3) consistent and uniform assertion of the identity; or (4)
any other evidence that the identity is sincerely held, part of a person’s core identity,
or not asserted for an improper purpose.
Applicability
The act applies the federal law conforming changes to policies delivered,
issued, renewed, amended, or continued in Connecticut on and after October 1,
2023, that cover (1) basic hospital expenses; (2) basic medical-surgical expenses;
(3) major medical expenses; or (4) hospital or medical services, including those
provided under an HMO plan. It applies the nondiscrimination provisions to these
policies that are delivered, issued, renewed, amended, or continued in Connecticut
on and after January 1, 2024. (Because of the federal Employee Retirement Income
Security Act, state insurance benefit mandates do not apply to self-insured benefit
plans.)