New law allows NYSIF to insure businesses with unpaid balances

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a bill allowing the state’s workers compensation insurer of last resort to issue a policy to a former policyholder even when that business has an unpaid balance from a previous policy.

Ms. Hochul on Friday signed S9096/A10078, a bill that she said in a statement will restore the ability of thousands of state businesses to place coverage with the New York State Insurance Fund.

NYSIF must insure any employer that applies for coverage regardless of the risk. The insurer can cancel policies only for nonpayment of premium and was previously precluded from issuing new policies to a business that still owed premiums on past policies.

According to a bill summary, NYSIF declared that about 3,775 businesses were ineligible for coverage in 2020 because the applicants had outstanding balances on prior policies. If NYSIF wrote all those policies the estimated premiums, if paid, would have exceeded $75.7 million.

As of Sept. 30, 2021, 4,167 applicants were deemed ineligible for coverage with NYSIF for failing to pay premiums in the past. According to the bill analysis, the total estimated annual premium of the unique applications would have been more than $51.4 million.

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