A North Dakota district court judge has sided with the state’s insurance commissioner, Jon Godfread, in a legal battle concerning a long-term care insurance provider. The ruling blocks a planned rate increase and benefit reductions that the insurer sought to implement without proper regulatory approval.
According to the North Dakota Insurance Department, the insurance company, under the control of Pennsylvania regulators since 2021, attempted to bypass required approvals and impose premium hikes and benefit cuts. The recent ruling prevents these changes from affecting the 317 policyholders in North Dakota.
Among those affected, 77 policyholders would have faced a significant jump in their annual premiums, rising from $2,432 to $4,036, the department indicated. The judge granted summary judgment on March 10 in Commissioner Godfread’s favor. Godfread initiated the legal challenge back in 2022 against then-Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner Jessica Altman, who was later succeeded by Mike Humphreys.
Rate increases had been temporarily paused since 2023 during the court’s review process. Commissioner Godfread emphasized the ruling’s significance, stating, “This ruling upholds North Dakota’s right to protect and preserve its laws, regardless of who is violating them.” He added, “My priority is to protect North Dakota consumers, and when a company is attempting to subvert our laws and undercut the state-based system of insurance regulation that has existed for the past 150 years, I have a duty to stop it.”
The Pennsylvania insurance commissioner now has 60 days to appeal the decision to the North Dakota Supreme Court. Senior Health Insurance Co. was placed into rehabilitation in 2020 after its risk-based capital report triggered regulatory intervention. A rehabilitation plan approved by the court in 2021 required policyholders to decide on premium adjustments or benefit reductions.
The company was originally established to manage a closed block of long-term care policies that Conseco Inc. previously oversaw. The company’s website indicates that Senior Health Insurance Co. ceased issuing new policies no later than 2003.
Attempts to get comments from the Pennsylvania Department of Insurance have been unsuccessful.
