Mo. Makes Privacy Regulation Compliant with

The Missouri Insurance Department has modified its consumer privacy regulation to make it fully compliant with the federal Gramm-Leach-Bliley (GLB) Act.

National Association of Independent Insurers (NAII) Counsel Ann Weber commended the department for deleting a provision in the regulation that included third party claimants in its definition of “consumer.” Weber twice wrote letters to the department requesting the change.

Weber said that the provision in question would have required insurers to provide all third party claimants with an initial and annual notice of its privacy policies and practices as well as give them an opportunity to ‘opt out’ before the insurer discloses nonpublic personal financial information to nonaffiliated third parties. A third party claimant typically is the other person involved in an accident with the insured individual.

Weber previously commended the department for deleting from its original proposal that would have had the regulation also apply to workers’ compensation insurance and health information. The deletion of third party claimants from the proposed regulation ensured compliance with GLB and the intention of a state law enacted last year, she added.