by Will Albert
NORTH DAKOTA (KXNET) — A North Dakota District Court judge sided with Insurance Commissioner Jon Godfread last week, preventing an illegal rate increase proposed by a Pennsylvania-based insurance company.
The Senior Health Insurance Company of Pennsylvania (SHIP) was taken over by Pennsylvania state officials in 2021 due to financial instability. Subsequently, the company attempted to raise rates for over 300 policyholders nationwide.
Commissioner Godfread filed a lawsuit against the company in 2022, resulting in a temporary halt of the rate increases the following year.
Jacob Just, the Director of Communications for the North Dakota Department of Insurance, explained that any rate increases must first be approved by the insurance commissioner. “We are a prior approval state,” Just stated, “which means any rate increase for all lines of insurance, whether that’s auto, health, homeowners, and in this case long term care insurance, they must be approved by the insurance commissioner.”
Just noted the length of time North Dakota had been in court over the matter. “We had a temporary halt on those rate increases as the lawsuit played out, and so that they could allow the court to do its business,” Just said. “And on March 10th of this year, North Dakota District Court ruled in favor of blocking the rate increase.”
According to Just, a ruling against the state could have negatively impacted many North Dakotans. “A lot of them were likely senior citizens, people who might have already been on claim, seniors who are retired and probably on fixed incomes who probably didn’t plan on rate increases,” Just said. “In the court documents, it was revealed that of the 371 people that were affected, 77 would see a rate increase.”
Just emphasized the court’s ruling as a victory for North Dakotans. “So this was definitely a case of our department, the North Dakota insurance Department, and the insurance commissioner of North Dakota standing up for North Dakota consumers by upholding our state’s authority, by upholding our right to regulate insurance within its own borders,” Just said.
Pennsylvania officials have 60 days to appeal the decision to the North Dakota Supreme Court.
