New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has extended for 30 days an order that prohibits insurance carriers from terminating some policies and requires them to be lenient with policyholders suffering financially from the COVID-19 pandemic. The requirements, which were scheduled to expire on May 7, will now expire on June 6. Big I New York wrote to the governor last week urging him to extend the requirements' duration.
The governor issued an
executive order on March 29 that required the state Department of Financial Services to issue regulations setting a 60-day moratorium on insurers cancelling, non-renewing or conditionally renewing some policies. The regulations also required insurers and premium finance companies to make accommodations for households and small businesses having trouble paying their premiums because of the pandemic.
The expiration of the emergency regulations is tied to the expiration of the executive order. An order issued on
April 7 extended the expiration date to May 7. The
new order further extends that date to June 6.
The regulations apply to property-casualty and life insurance policies issued to individuals and businesses with 100 or fewer employees and in effect on March 30. They apply to policies issued by admitted insurers and to personal lines policies and commercial lines policies that provide fire insurance issued by non-admitted insurers.
As always, if you have questions about your policy, please reach out to your trusted advisor at Tompkins Insurance.
