RCW 48.18.547 Underwriting Restrictions that Apply to Medical Malpractice Insurance-Rules

• Library: Washington Statutes
• Edition: 2023
• Currency: Current through the 2023 1st Special Session
• Year: 2023
• Citation: RCW 48.18.547

(1) For the purposes of this section:

(a) "Affiliate" has the same meaning as in RCW 48.31B.005(1).

(b) "Claim" means a demand for monetary damages by a claimant.

(c) "Claimant" means a person, including a decedent's estate, who is seeking or has sought monetary damages for injury or death caused by medical malpractice.

(d) "Tier" has the same meaning as in RCW 48.18.545(1)(h).

(e) "Underwrite" or "underwriting" means the process of selecting, rejecting, or pricing a risk, and includes each of these activities:

(i) Evaluation, selection, and classification of risk, including placing a risk with an affiliate insurer that has higher rates and/or rating plan components that will result in higher premiums;

(ii) Application of classification plans, rates, rating rules, and rating tiers to an insured risk; and

(iii) Determining eligibility for:

(A) Insurance coverage provisions;

(B) Higher policy limits; or

(C) Premium payment plans.

(2) During each underwriting process, an insurer may consider the following factors only in combination with other substantive underwriting factors:

(a) An insured has inquired about the nature or scope of coverage under a medical malpractice insurance policy;

(b) An insured has notified their insurer about an incident that may be covered under the terms of their medical malpractice insurance policy, and that incident does not result in a claim; or