Florida Administrative Code › 69 - DEPARTMENT OF FINANCIAL SERVICES › 69O - OIR - Insurance Regulation › Chapter 69O-156 - MEDICARE SUPPLEMENT INSURANCE › Section 69O-156.117 - Introductory, Initial, or Special Offers

Current through Reg. 50, No. 138; July 16, 2024
(1) An advertisement of an individual policy
				shall not directly or by implication represent that a contract or combination
				of contracts is an introductory, initial, or special offer, or that applicants
				will receive substantial advantages not available at a later date, or that the
				offer is available only to a specified group of individuals, unless such is the
				fact. An advertisement shall not contain phrases describing an application
				period as "special", "limited", or similar words or phrases when the insurer
				uses such application periods as the usual method of advertising Medicare
				Supplement Insurance.
(2) An
				application period during which a particular insurance product may be purchased
				on an individual basis shall not be offered within this State unless there has
				been a lapse of not less than six months between the close of the immediately
				preceding application period for the same product and the opening of the new
				application period. The advertisement shall indicate the date by which the
				applicant must mail the application, which shall be not less than ten days and
				not more than forty days from the date that such application period is
				advertised for the first time. This rule applies to all advertising media,
				i.e., mail, newspapers, radio, television, magazines, and periodicals, by any
				one insurer. This prohibition shall not be applicable to solicitations of
				employees or members of a particular group or association which otherwise would
				be eligible under specific provisions of the Insurance Code for group, blanket,
				or franchise insurance. The phrase "any one insurer" includes all the
				affiliated companies of a group of insurance companies under common management
				or control.
(3) This rule does not
				require separation by 6 months of application or enrollment periods for the
				same insurance product in this State if the advertising material is directed by
				an admitted insurer to persons by direct mail on the basis that a common
				relationship exists with more than one entity. Examples of such would be a bank
				and its depositors, a department store to its charge account customers, or an
				oil company to its credit card holders, and more than one of such organizations
				is sponsoring such insurance product at different times if providing such
				insurance under such a method is not otherwise prohibited by law. However, the
				6-month rule does apply to one specific sponsor to the same persons in this
				State on the basis of their status as customers of that one specific entity
				only.
(4) This rule prohibits any
				statement or implication to the effect that only a specific number of policies
				will be sold, or that a time is fixed for the discontinuance of the sale of the
				particular policy advertised because of special advantages available in the
				policy, unless such is the fact.
(5) The phrase "a particular insurance
				product" in subsection (2) of this section means an insurance policy which
				provides substantially different benefits than those contained in any other
				policy. Different terms of renewability, an increase or decrease in the dollar
				amounts of benefits, or an increase or decrease in any elimination period or
				waiting period from those available during an application period for another
				policy shall not be sufficient to constitute the product being offered as a
				different product eligible for concurrent or overlapping application
				periods.
(6) An advertisement shall
				not offer a policy which utilizes a reduced initial premium rate, nor shall an
				advertisement offer a policy waiving the initial premium.
(7) Meaningless awards, such as a "safe
				drivers award" shall not be used in connection with advertisements of Medicare
				Supplement Insurance.
Rulemaking Authority 624.308(1), 626.9611, 626.9641 FS. Law
					 Implemented 624.307(1), 626.9541(1)(a), (b), (e), (k), (l), 626.9641(1)
					 FS.
New 6-12-88, Formerly 4-46.016,
					 4-156.117.