Sec. 8133a.
(1) Notwithstanding any other law or contract to the contrary, any collateral held by or for the benefit of or assigned to the insurer or subsequently the receiver in order to secure the obligations of a policyholder under a deductible agreement shall not be considered an asset of the estate and shall be maintained and administered by the receiver as provided in this section.
(2) If collateral is being held by or for the benefit of or assigned to the insurer or subsequently the receiver to secure obligations under a deductible agreement with a policyholder, the collateral shall be used to secure the policyholder's obligation to fund or reimburse claims payment within the agreed deductible amount as provided in this section.
(3) If a claim that is subject to a deductible agreement and secured by collateral is not covered by any guaranty association or foreign guaranty association and the policyholder is unwilling or unable to take over the handling and payment of the noncovered claims, the receiver shall adjust and pay the noncovered claims using the collateral but only to the extent the available collateral after allocation under subsection (4) is sufficient to pay all outstanding and anticipated claims. If the collateral is exhausted and the insured is not able to provide funds to pay the remaining claims within the deductible after all reasonable means of collection against the insured have been exhausted, the receiver's obligation to pay the claims from the collateral terminates and the remaining claims shall be claims against the insurer's estate subject to complying with other provisions in this chapter for the filing and allowance of those claims. If the liquidator determines that the collateral is insufficient to pay all additional and anticipated claims, the liquidator may file a plan, subject to court approval, for equitably allocating the collateral among claimants.
(4) To the extent that the receiver is holding collateral provided by a policyholder that was obtained to secure a deductible agreement and to secure other obligations of the policyholder to pay the insurer directly or indirectly amounts that become assets of the estate, such as reinsurance obligations under a captive reinsurance program or adjustable premium obligations under a retrospectively rated insurance policy where the premium due is subject to adjustment based upon actual loss experience, the receiver shall equitably allocate the collateral among those obligations and administer the collateral allocated to the deductible agreement as provided in this section. For collateral allocated to obligations under the deductible agreement, if the collateral secured reimbursement obligation under more than 1 line of insurance, then the collateral shall be equitably allocated among the various lines based upon the estimated ultimate exposure within the deductible amount for each line. The receiver shall inform the guaranty associations and foreign guaranty associations of the method and details of all the foregoing allocations.
(5) Regardless of whether there is collateral, if the insurer has contractually agreed to allow the policyholder to fund its own claims within the deductible amount pursuant to a deductible agreement, either through the policyholder's own administration of its claims or through the policyholder providing funds directly to a third party administrator who administers the claims, the receiver shall allow this funding arrangement to continue and, where applicable, will enforce the arrangement to the fullest extent possible. The funding of these claims by the policyholder within the deductible amount will act as a bar to any claim for such amount in the liquidation proceeding, including, but not limited to, any claim by the policyholder or the third party claimant. This funding arrangement extinguishes both the obligation, if any, of any guaranty association to pay those claims within the deductible amount, as well as the obligations, if any, of the policyholder or third party administrator to reimburse the guaranty association. If a policyholder has entered into an agreement to which this subsection applies and is prevented from funding its own claims due to any proceeding under 11 USC 101 to 1330 and 1501 to 1532, then the guaranty funds that would otherwise be obligated to pay the claims shall pay the claims to the extent required by applicable state law and, in addition to any other rights of recovery arising from payment of the claims, shall have the full benefit of all collateral and other rights of reimbursement and recovery under this section from the bankruptcy court, liquidator, or receiver. No charge of any kind shall be made against any guaranty association on the basis of the policyholder funding of claim payments made pursuant to an arrangement described in this subsection.
(6) If the insurer has not contractually agreed to allow the policyholder to fund its own claims within the deductible amount, to the extent a guaranty association or foreign guaranty association is required by applicable state law to pay any claims for which the insurer would have been entitled to reimbursement from the policyholder under the terms of the deductible agreement and to the extent the claims have not been paid by a policyholder or third party, the receiver shall promptly bill the policyholder for reimbursement and the policyholder is obligated to pay the reimbursement amount to the receiver for the benefit of the guaranty association or foreign guaranty associations who paid the claims. Neither the insolvency of the insurer, nor its inability to perform any of its obligations under the deductible agreement, is a defense to the policyholder's reimbursement obligation under the deductible agreement. The receiver shall promptly reimburse the guaranty association or foreign guaranty association for claims paid that were subject to the deductible when the policyholder reimbursements are collected. If the policyholder fails to pay the amounts due within 60 days after the bill for the reimbursement is due, the receiver shall use the collateral to the extent necessary to reimburse the guaranty association or foreign guaranty associations, and, at the same time, may pursue other collections efforts against the policyholder. If more than 1 guaranty association or foreign guaranty association has a claim against the same collateral and the available collateral, after allocation under subsection (4), along with billing and collection efforts, are together insufficient to pay each guaranty association and foreign guaranty association in full, then the receiver will prorate payments to each guaranty association and foreign guaranty association based upon the relationship the amount of claims each guaranty association and foreign guaranty association has paid bears to the total of all claims paid by the guaranty association and foreign guaranty associations.
(7) The receiver is entitled to deduct from reimbursements owed to a guaranty association or foreign guaranty association or collateral to be returned to a policyholder reasonable actual expenses incurred in fulfilling the responsibilities under this section, not to exceed 3% of the collateral or the total deductible reimbursements actually collected by the receiver. For claim payments made by a guaranty association or foreign guaranty association, the receiver shall promptly provide the guaranty association or foreign guaranty association with a complete accounting of the receiver's deductible billing and collection activities, including copies of the policyholder billings when rendered, the reimbursements collected, the available amounts and use of collateral for each account, and any proration of payments when it occurs. If the receiver fails to make a good faith effort within 120 days of receipt of claims payment reports to collect reimbursements due from a policyholder under a deductible agreement based on claim payments made by the guaranty association or foreign guaranty association, the guaranty association or foreign guaranty association may pursue collection from the policyholders directly on the same basis as the receiver, and with the same rights and remedies, and shall report any amounts collected from each policyholder to the receiver. To the extent that a guaranty association or foreign guaranty association pays claims within the deductible amount, but is not reimbursed by either the receiver under this section or by policyholder payments from the guaranty association's or foreign guaranty association's own collection efforts, the guaranty association or foreign guaranty association shall have a claim in the insolvent insurer's estate for unreimbursed claims payments.
(8) The receiver shall adjust the collateral being held as the claims subject to the deductible agreement are run off, so long as adequate collateral is maintained to secure the entire estimated ultimate obligation of the policyholder plus a reasonable safety factor. The receiver shall make these adjustments periodically, but is not required to adjust the collateral more than once a year. The guaranty association and any foreign guaranty association shall be informed of all such collateral reviews, including, but not limited to, the basis for the adjustment. Once all claims covered by the collateral have been paid and the receiver is satisfied that no new claims can be presented, the receiver will release any remaining collateral to the policyholder.
(9) The Ingham county circuit court having jurisdiction over the liquidation proceedings shall have jurisdiction to resolve disputes arising under this section.
(10) This section does not limit or adversely affect any right a guaranty association or foreign guaranty association may have under applicable state law to obtain reimbursement from certain classes of policyholders for claims payments made by the guaranty association or foreign guaranty association under policies of the insolvent insurer or for related expenses the guaranty association or foreign guaranty association incurs.
(11) This section applies to all delinquency proceedings that are open and pending on the effective date of this section.
(12) This section does not apply to first party claims or to claims funded by a guaranty association or foreign guaranty association net of the deductible unless subsection (5) applies.
(13) As used in this section:
(a) "Deductible agreement" means any combination of 1 or more policies, endorsements, contracts, or security agreements that provide for the policyholder to bear the risk of loss within a specified amount per claim or occurrence covered under a policy of insurance and may be subject to aggregate limit of policyholder reimbursement obligations.
(b) "Noncovered claim" means a claim that is subject to a deductible agreement, may be secured by collateral, and is not covered by a guaranty association or foreign guaranty association.
History: Add. 2006, Act 355, Imd. Eff. Sept. 18, 2006
Compiler's Notes: Act 218