THE LIFE AND HEALTH INSURANCE
PROTECTION ASSOCIATION (COLORADO)

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INTRODUCTION 

Residents of Colorado who purchase life insurance, annuities or health insurance should know that the insurance companies licensed in this state to write these types of insurance are members of the Life and Health Insurance Protection Association. The purpose of this Association is to assure that policyholders will be protected, within limits, in the unlikely event that a member insurer becomes financially unable to meet its obligations. If this should happen, the Association will assess its other member insurance companies for the money to pay the claims of insured persons who live in Colorado and, in some cases, to keep coverage in force.  The valuable extra protection provided by these insurers through the Association is limited, however. As noted in the box below, this protection is not a substitute for consumers' care in selecting companies that are well managed and financially stable.

SUMMARY 

The state law that provides for this safety-net coverage is called the Life and Health Insurance Protection Association Act. Below is a brief summary of this law's coverages, exclusions and limits. This summary does not cover all provisions of the law; nor does it in any way change anyone's rights or obligations under the act or the rights or obligations of the Association. 

Coverage.  Generally, individuals will be protected by the Life and Health Insurance Protection Association if they live in this state and hold a life or health insurance contract, or an annuity, or if they hold certificates under a group life or health insurance contract or annuity, issued by a member insurer.  The beneficiaries, payees or assignees of insured persons are protected as well, even if they live in another state.  Certain parties to structured settlement annuity contracts may be entitled to coverage benefits as well based on defined circumstances.                         

Exclusions From Coverage.  Persons holding such policies or contracts are not protected by this Association if:

• they are not residents of the State of Colorado, except under certain very specific circumstances;

• the insurer was not authorized or licensed to do business in Colorado at the time the policy or contract was issued;

• their policy was issued by a nonprofit hospital or health service corporation, an HMO, a fraternal benefit society, a mandatory state pooling plan, a mutual assessment company or similar plan in which the policyholder is subject to future assessments, or by an insurance exchange. 

The Association also does not provide coverage for:

• any policy or portion of a policy which is not guaranteed by the insurer or for which the individual has assumed the risk;

• any policy of reinsurance (unless an assumption certificate was issued);

• plans of employers, associations or similar entities to the extent they are self-funded or uninsured (that is, not insured by an insurance company, even if an insurance company administers them);

• interest rate yields, crediting rate yields or other factors employed in calculating returns, including but not limited to indexes or other external references stated in the policy or contract, that exceed an average rate specified in the Association Act;

• dividends;

• experience rating credits;

• credits given in connection with the administration of a policy or contract;

• any unallocated annuity;

• annuity contracts or group annuity certificates used by nonprofit insurance companies to provide retirement benefits for nonprofit educational institutions and their employees;

• policies, contracts, certificates or subscriber agreements issued by a prepaid dental care plan;

• sickness and accident insurance when written by a property and casualty insurer as part of an automobile insurance contract;

• unallocated annuity contracts issued to an employee benefit plan protected under the federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation;

• policies or contracts issued by an insurer which was insolvent or unable to fulfill its contractual obligations as of July 1, 1991, except for annuity contracts issued by a member insurer which was placed into liquidation between July 1, 1991, and August 31, 1991;

• policies or contracts covering persons who are not citizens of the United States;

•  any kind of insurance or annuity, the benefits of which are exclusively payable or determined by a separate account required by the terms of such insurance policy or annuity maintained by the insurer or by a separate entity. 

Limits On Amount Of Coverage.  The act also limits the amount the Association is obligated to pay out. The Association cannot pay more than what the insurance company would owe under a policy or contract.  Also, for any one insured life, no matter how many policies or contracts were issued by the same company, even if such contracts provided different types of coverages, the Association will pay a maximum of: 

• $300,000 in net life insurance death benefits and no more than $100,000 in net cash surrender and net cash withdrawal values for life insurance;

• for health insurance benefits - $100,000 for coverages not defined as disability, basic hospital, medical and surgical, or major medical insurance, including any net cash surrender and net cash withdrawal values; $300,000 for disability insurance; or $500,000 for basic hospital, medical and surgical, or major medical insurance;

• $100,000 in the present value of annuity benefits, including net cash surrender and net cash withdrawal values; or

• with respect to each payee of a structured settlement annuity, $100,000 in present value annuity benefits, in the aggregate, including net cash surrender and net cash withdrawal values. 

The Association shall not be liable to expend more than $300,000 in the aggregate, with respect to any one life except that with respect to benefits for basic hospital, medical and surgical and major medical insurance, the aggregate liability of the Association shall not exceed $500,000 with respect to any one individual.