Title 56, Insurance

(a) The commissioner may, in lieu of suspension or revocation of a certificate of authority under § 56-32-118, levy an administrative penalty in an amount not less than one thousand dollars ($1,000) nor more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000), if reasonable notice in writing is …

(a) Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, the insurance laws and the hospital or medical service corporation laws are not applicable to any HMO granted a certificate of authority under this chapter. This subsection (a) does not apply to an insurer or hospital or medical s…

No person may make a tender for or a request or invitation for tenders of, or enter into an agreement to exchange securities for or acquire in the open market or otherwise, any voting security of an HMO or enter into any other agreement if, after the consummation of the agreement…

(a) Each employer, public or private, except any public entity that has a metropolitan form of government and a population of not less than four hundred thousand (400,000), according to the 1980 federal census or any subsequent federal census, in this state that offers its employ…

(a) All HMOs doing business in this state shall pay tax on the gross amount of all dollars collected from an enrollee or on an enrollee's behalf in the amount of six percent (6%). (b) The taxes provided for in this section shall be due and payable in an electronic format approved…

(a) Any data or information pertaining to the diagnosis, treatment or health of any enrollee or applicant obtained from the person or from any provider by any HMO shall be held in confidence by the HMO and shall not be disclosed by the HMO to any person, except upon any one (1) o…

(a) HMOs shall be subject to the same requirements regarding prompt payment of claims, and the additional liability for bad faith failure to pay claims promptly, as are applicable to insurance companies under § 56-7-105. (b) This subsection (b) is intended to ensure the prompt an…

(a) As used in this section, “managed health insurance issuer” means an entity that:(1) Offers health insurance coverage or benefits under a contract that restricts reimbursement for covered services to a defined network of providers; and(2) Is regulated under this title or is an…

(a) The managed health insurance issuer shall not discriminate with respect to participation, referral, reimbursement of covered services or indemnification as to any provider within a class of providers who is acting within the scope of the provider's license or certification un…

(a) A managed health insurance issuer shall not terminate or nonrenew a contract with a health care provider, or take other retaliatory action against a health care provider, because the provider:(1) Communicated with an enrollee with respect to the enrollee's health status, heal…

(a) It is the intent of this section to establish a procedure to verify that the HMOs and behavioral health organizations participating by contract in the TennCare program are delivering the health benefits required under their TennCare contracts with the state. This procedure sh…

For the purposes of regulation and oversight of HMOs that participate in the TennCare program under Title XIX of the federal Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. § 1396 et seq.), or any successor to the TennCare program, and in addition to the powers and duties set forth in this title,…

(a) As used in this section, “affiliate” has the same meaning as defined in § 56-32-102. (b) (1) For verification and audit purposes, each managed care organization that participates in the TennCare program shall provide to the department of commerce and insurance the following i…

Any information and documentation obtained by the department pursuant to § 56-32-117(c) or § 56-32-132, shall be considered confidential, unless the commissioner in the commissioner's sole discretion determines to disclose the information or documentation.

A violation of this chapter shall subject the violator to the penalty contained in § 56-1-801.

A managed health insurance issuer shall not discriminate with respect to participation, referral, reimbursement of covered services, or indemnification as to any provider who is acting within the scope of the provider's license or certification under state law, solely on the basi…

(a) (1) If authorization is given and a pharmacy claim is adjudicated by an HMO or its agent to any pharmacy services provider for care to be delivered to a covered beneficiary under any evidence of coverage issued by the HMO, including those organizations participating in the Te…

(a) This chapter applies to travel insurance:(1) That covers a resident of this state and is sold, solicited, negotiated, or offered in this state; and(2) Policies and certificates that are delivered or issued for delivery in this state. (1) That covers a resident of this state a…

(1) As used in this chapter:(1) “Aggregator site” means a website that provides access to information regarding insurance products from more than one (1) insurer, including product and insurer information, for use in comparison shopping;(2) “Blanket travel insurance” means a poli…

(1) Travel protection plans may be offered for one (1) price for the combined features that the travel protection plan offers in this state if, at or prior to the time of purchase:(1) The travel protection plan clearly discloses to the consumer that it includes travel insurance, …

(a) (1) As used in this section, “delivery” means handing fulfillment materials to the policyholder or certificate holder, or sending fulfillment materials by postal mail or electronic means to the policyholder or certificate holder.(2) Documents provided to consumers prior to th…

(1) Notwithstanding § 56-8-104, if a consumer's destination jurisdiction requires insurance coverage, then it is not an unfair trade practice to require a consumer to choose between the following options as a condition of purchasing a trip or travel package:(1) Purchasing the cov…

(a) Notwithstanding another provision of this title to the contrary, a person shall not act or represent themself as a travel administrator for travel insurance in this state unless that person:(1) Is a licensed property and casualty insurance producer or accident and health insu…

(a) (1) Notwithstanding a provision of this title to the contrary, travel insurance must be classified and filed for purposes of rates and forms under an inland marine line of insurance.(2) Travel insurance that provides coverage for sickness, accident, disability, or death occur…

Cancellation fee waivers and travel assistance services governed under this chapter are not insurance and are exempt from the insurance laws of this state.

The commissioner is authorized to promulgate rules to effectuate this chapter. The rules must be promulgated in accordance with the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act, compiled in title 4, chapter 5.

(a) This chapter is known and may be cited as the “Title Insurance Law.” (b) All title insurance companies, title insurance agents and the business of title insurance in this state shall be regulated, licensed and controlled by and under this chapter to the exclusion of all other…

(1) As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:(1) “Associate” includes any:(A) Employee of a producer of title insurance business;(B) Spouse or relative within the second degree by blood or marriage of a producer of title insurance business or of an associate…

(1) Every corporation complying with this chapter has, in addition to the powers and authority under its charter and existing laws applicable to the company, the following additional authority:(1) To own, lease or construct abstract or title plants, and operate and maintain the s…

No corporation qualified to engage in the business of title insurance under this chapter shall guarantee the payment of any note, bond, mortgage or obligation of any other person or corporation, or execute collateral trust indentures as principal, or issue bonds secured by mortga…

The business of title insurance in this state is placed under the supervision and control of the commissioner, and every corporation engaged in title insurance business in this state shall be subject to the requirements of this chapter, and none other than a corporation, domestic…

Whenever any title insurance company has made the deposit of money or securities, as required by this chapter, or, if a foreign title insurance company, has duly filed the certificate referred to in § 56-35-112 and satisfied the commissioner that it has on deposit with the proper…

(a) Every title insurance company qualifying under this chapter shall annually, on or before March 1 of each year, file an annual statement as provided in § 56-35-108, and pay to the department of commerce and insurance a sum equal to two and one-half percent (2.5%) of all risk r…

The commissioner shall, in December of each year, furnish to each of the insurance companies authorized to do business under this chapter, two (2) blanks in form adopted for their annual statement. The companies shall, annually, on or before March 1, file in the office of the com…

Any foreign title insurance company desiring to transact a title insurance business in this state must first file with the commissioner a written power of attorney appointing and authorizing the commissioner as its agent for the purpose of acknowledging or receiving service of pr…

(a) No person within this state shall act or hold the person out as a title insurance agency unless the person has been issued a certificate of authority by the commissioner. (b) Any application for the certificate shall be in writing and on forms prescribed by the commissioner a…

(a) Every title insurance company shall file with the commissioner its schedules of rates and every modification of any rate that it proposes to use in this state. The schedule of rates and every modification of rates shall be filed by a rating organization meeting the qualificat…

(a) Every corporation now organized, or which may be organized, under the laws of this state, or any foreign corporation now or in the future doing business in this state, insuring title to real estate, or insuring owners, mortgagees, lessees or others against loss by reason of d…

The commissioner shall permit any title insurance company, its agents, attorneys, representatives or assigns, to collect, receive and use the income and any and all remittances of any of the income received by the commissioner, from all securities so deposited, and the commission…

Every domestic insurer shall annually set apart, at the end of each year, into an account to be known as “Title Insurance Reserve,” an amount equal to ten percent (10%) of the risk rates collected, during the year then ending, by the insurer on account of the title insurance busi…

The deposit required to be kept with the commissioner as the title insurance fund, together with any additions to the fund made as authorized in this chapter, and the title insurance reserve to be held by the insurers, and all unearned premium or risk rate reserves, shall be made…

In order to further more equitable establishment and adjustment of rates, including risk rates, or premiums and forms of contracts, policies and guarantees, the commissioner, every insurer and rating organization may exchange information and experience data with each other, and w…

Nothing in this chapter is intended to prohibit or discourage reasonable competition, or to prohibit or discourage uniformity in insurance rates, including risk rates, or premiums, or practices, or contracts, policies or guarantees of title.

(a) It is unlawful for any applicant for a policy of title insurance, or any person, firm or corporation, on behalf of the applicant, or any other person, firm or corporation whomsoever, to request, receive or obtain from a title insurance agent, or a title insurance company, any…

Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to affect in any manner the relationship of attorney and client, or the fees paid for services performed by a licensed attorney at law.

Nothing in this chapter, or in any other law of this state, shall be construed as preventing or prohibiting any attorney at law, real estate company, firm, broker or salesperson, lending institution, or the officers and employees of any institution, from advocating, recommending …