(a) Sales of disability insurance regulated by this article, as well as Medicare supplement insurance and long-term care insurance sold to persons aged 65 years or older, shall be registered by the insurer with the commissioner. The commissioner shall provide facilities for the computerized recordkeeping of all registered policies and certificates. The commissioner shall adopt regulations to implement and administer registration pursuant to this section. Regulations shall include, but need not be limited to, a system for assessing insurers in accordance with each insurer’s market share in order to finance the cost of registration, an appropriate method and schedule for the filing of data with the commissioner, the content and format required for each filing in accordance with subdivision (d), appropriate sanctions for failure to comply with this section or with regulations promulgated under this section, and criteria for releasing the registered information to parties outside the department.

(b) Access to the registered information, including the identity of policyholders, shall be strictly limited to the department, with the exception that the Attorney General, a district attorney, or city attorney may be granted access upon request for the purpose of investigating or prosecuting suspected unlawful practices or for purposes of this article. The commissioner may, at his or her discretion, allow access to the registered information to the Health Insurance Counseling and Advocacy Program in the Department of Aging.

(c) Access to registered information in a purely statistical format, which neither identifies nor enables identification of a particular policyholder, may be released at the discretion of the commissioner to any party who demonstrates that the information will be used only for other than commercial purposes.

(d) The content of the filing shall contain no more than the following information:

(1) Policyholder’s Medicare identification number or social security number. The policyholder’s name shall be specifically excluded from the filing.

(2) A description of the policy as being Medicare supplemental insurance; long-term care insurance; or disability insurance.

(3) Date of sale.

(4) Date of lapse.

(5) Whether the policy is in force as of the date of the filing.

(6) The policy form number, if applicable.

(7) The name of any insurer, broker, agent, or other person engaged in the transaction of insurance who was responsible for the sale of the policy.

(Added by Stats. 1991, Ch. 1116, Sec. 5.)