The Commissioner of Financial Regulation shall adopt rules for the purposes of ensuring an in-depth independent analysis by an expert, or experts, of proposed Medicare Supplement rate increases. This analysis shall be performed only when the composite average rate increase requested by insurers with 5,000 or more lives in the Vermont Medicare Supplement market exceeds three percent, or when the Commissioner finds that the proposed premium and policy changes will have a comparable adverse impact on availability or cost of coverage, or when it otherwise appears to be in the best interest of the insureds. A composite average rate is the enrollment-weighted average rate increase of all plans offered by a carrier. The independent analyst shall be made available to the public during the analysis, and for the purpose of providing assistance with and testimony in connection with Medicare Supplement rate increase proposals. The cost for the analysis shall be assessed to the affected policy or certificate holders. (Added 1989, No. 259 (Adj. Sess.), § 2; amended 1991, No. 251 (Adj. Sess.); 1995, No. 180 (Adj. Sess.), § 38(a); 1999, No. 43, § 2; 2003, No. 18, § 2; 2011, No. 78 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. April 2, 2012.)