TRENTON — Responding to the devastation suffered by New Jersey residents as a result of Tropical Storm Ida, the Department of Banking and Insurance today issued a bulletin urging entities regulated by the department to work with and assist customers who have been adversely affected by the storm.
“New Jersey residents suffered tremendous losses during Tropical Storm Ida that will have an impact on their finances and ability to make payments for certain obligations,” said Department of Banking and Insurance Commissioner Marlene Caride. “As the state begins the recovery process, we are urging insurance companies, financial institutions and other regulated entities to recognize the hardships faced by impacted residents and businesses and to work with and assist them as they recover from the effects of the storm.”
The bulletin encourages all insurers, banks, credit unions, mortgage lenders and brokers, consumer lenders, insurance producers, real estate brokers, and any other person or entity subject to licensure or regulation by the department, to take into consideration the difficulties residents endured and will continue to endure until the damage caused by Tropical Storm Ida is repaired and affected residents fully recover.
The department specifically encourages the entities and individuals it regulates to assist those affected by taking actions such as:
Insurance Division Regulated Entities/Individuals: Consistent with prudent insurance practices, relaxing due dates for insurance premium payments, extending grace periods, waiving late fees and penalties, allowing forbearance with regard to the cancellation/non-renewal of policies, allowing payment plans for premium payments, and exercising judicious efforts to assist affected policyholders and work with them to make sure that their insurance policies do not lapse.
Banking Division Regulated Entities/Individuals: Consistent with safe-and-sound banking and lending practices, relaxing due dates for loan and mortgage payments, extending grace periods, modifying terms on existing loans, easing credit card limits, extending new credit, waiving late fees and other fees, allowing customers to defer or skip payments, and delaying the submission of delinquency notices to credit bureaus.
The bulletin may be found here: https://www.state.nj.us/dobi/bulletins/blt21_09.pdf.
The department also issued the following additional bulletin and order to ensure access to medications for those affected by Tropical Storm Ida, who cannot access previously filled prescription medications, and to require insurance companies to report claims information to the department for monitoring purposes:
Early Prescription Drug Refills And Waiver Of 90-Day Supply Limits For Consumers Affected By Tropical Storm Ida: Requires all department-regulated health insurance companies, health maintenance organizations, health service corporations and other entities issuing health benefits or prescription drug plans in the state to relax restrictions relating to prescription drug coverage for persons who cannot access previously filled prescription medications. Carriers must allow covered persons affected by Ida to obtain coverage of prescription drug refills as necessary, regardless of any plan terms and conditions to the contrary, and to permit coverage of prescription drugs in excess of a 90-day supply. The Department is requiring that carriers lift fill restrictions where appropriate, while also taking into consideration patient safety risks for certain drug classes, such as opioids, benzodiazepines and stimulants.
Carriers must also relax prior authorization requirements for persons affected by Ida and provide flexibility concerning the use or preferential cost sharing applied to prescriptions filled via mail order as opposed to prescriptions obtained from retail pharmacies. The bulletin may be found here: https://www.state.nj.us/dobi/bulletins/blt21_10.pdf.
Claims Reporting By Insurance Companies: Requires admitted property/casualty insurers, which includes homeowners, commercial property, flood and personal and commercial auto insurance, with a total of $5,000,000 or more written property/casualty insurance premiums in the state with applicable insurance policies to provide to the Department information on property damage claims received by the insurer. The order may be found here: https://www.state.nj.us/dobi/orders/a21_10.pdf.
Residents and businesses affected by Tropical Storm Ida may find information on filing insurance claims on the department website in English and Spanish. |
