Washington Administrative Code › Title 284 - Insurance Commissioner, Office of the › Chapter 284-50 - Washington disability insurance regulations › ADVERTISING › Section 284-50-170 - Introductory, initial, or special offers

Current through Register Vol. 24-14, July 15, 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 enrollment
				period as "special," "limited," or similar words or phrases when the insurer
				uses such enrollment periods as the usual method of advertising disability
				insurance or health care service contractors' agreements.
(2) 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. 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 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. The phrase "any one
				insurer" includes all the affiliated companies of a group of insurance
				companies under common management or control. This rule is inapplicable to
				solicitations of employees or members of a particular group or association
				which solicitations are being made under specific provisions of the insurance
				code for group, blanket, or franchise insurance.
(3) 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.
(4) The phrase "a
				particular insurance product" in subsection (2) 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 or decrease 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 the concurrent or overlapping enrollment
				periods.
(5) Special awards, such
				as a "safe driver's award" shall not be used in connection with advertisements
				of disability insurance.
Order R-73-1, §
											284-50-170, filed 2/28/73,
					 effective 4/1/73.