North Carolina Administrative Code › Title 11 - INSURANCE › Chapter 12 - LIFE AND HEALTH DIVISION › Section .0500 - ACCIDENT AND HEALTH: GENERAL NATURE › Section 12 .0531 - ADVERTISING: INTRODUCTORY OR SPECIAL OFFERS

Current through Register Vol. 39, No. 2, July 15, 2024
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 enrollment period as
				  "special," "limited," or similar words or phrases when the insurer uses such
				  enrollment periods as the usual method of advertising accident and sickness
				  insurance.
An enrollment 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 three months between
				  the close of the immediately preceding enrollment period for the same product
				  and the opening of the new enrollment period with the number of enrollment
				  periods being limited to no more than two in any one calendar year for a
				  particular insurance product. The advertisement shall indicate the date by
				  which the applicant must mail the application, which shall be not less than 10
				  days and not more than 40 days from the date that such enrollment 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. It is inapplicable 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.
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.
The phrase "a particular insurance product" in the second
				  paragraph of this Rule means an insurance policy which provides substantially
				  different benefits than those contained in any other policy. Different terms of
				  renewability; an increase in the dollar amounts of benefits; an increase or
				  decrease in any elimination period or waiting period from those available
				  during an enrollment period for another policy shall not be sufficient to
				  constitute the product being offered as a different product eligible for
				  concurrent or overlapping enrollment periods.
An advertisement shall not offer a policy which utilizes a
				  reduced initial premium rate in a manner which overemphasizes the availability
				  and the amount of the initial reduced premium. When an insurer charges an
				  initial premium that differs in amount from the amount of the renewal premium
				  payable on the same mode, the advertisement shall not display the amount of the
				  reduced initial premium either more frequently or more prominently than the
				  renewal premium, and both the initial reduced and the renewal premium must be
				  stated in juxtaposition in each portion of the advertisement where the initial
				  reduced premium appears.
Special awards, such as a "safe drivers' award" shall not be
				  used in connection with advertisements of accident or accident and sickness
				  insurance.
Authority
				  G.S.
				  58-2-40(1);
				  58-63-15;
Eff.
				  February 1, 1976;
Readopted Eff. September 26, 1978;
Pursuant to
				  G.S.
				  150B-21.3A, rule is necessary without
				  substantive public interest Eff. May 1, 2018.