Assurant 2015 Annual Report Download - page 25

ASSURANT, INC. – 2015 Form 10-K 13
PART I
ITEM 1 Business
Federal Regulation
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
Although health insurance is generally regulated at the
state level, the Affordable Care Act introduced a signicant
component of federal regulation for health insurers� Although
the Assurant Health business is in run-off, some provisions of
the Affordable Care Act continue to apply to us. In particular,
provisions of the Affordable Care Act and related reforms include
a requirement that we pay premium rebates to customers if the
loss ratios for some of our product lines are less than specied
percentages; changes in the benets provided under some
of our products; elimination of limits on lifetime and annual
benet maximums; a prohibition from imposing any pre-existing
condition exclusion; limits on our ability to rescind coverage
for persons who have misrepresented or omitted material
information when they applied for coverage and, elimination of
our ability to underwrite health insurance products with certain
narrow exceptions; mandated essential health benets; new
and higher taxes and fees and limitations on the deductibility
of compensation and certain other payments; and the need to
operate with a lower expense structure at both the business
segment and enterprise level. Additionally, under the Affordable
Care Act, signicant premium stabilization programs became
effective in 2014. These reinsurance, risk adjustment, and
risk corridor programs impose certain requirements on us,
including, among other things, that we make contributions to
fund the reinsurance program and, under some circumstances,
risk transfer payments related to the risk adjustment program
and payments to the Department of Health and Human Services
related to the risk corridor program.
Employee Retirement Income Security Act
Because we provide products and services for certain U.S.
employee benet plans, we are subject to regulation under
the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as
amended (“ERISA”). ERISA places certain requirements on how
the Company may do business with employers that maintain
employee benet plans covered by ERISA. Among other things,
regulations under ERISA set standards for certain notice and
disclosure requirements and for claim processing and appeals�
In addition, some of our administrative services and other
activities may also be subject to regulation under ERISA.
HIPAA, HITECH Act and Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of
1996, along with its implementing regulations (“HIPAA”),
impose various requirements on health insurers, HMOs,
health plans and health care providers. Among other things,
Assurant Health and Assurant Employee Benets are subject
to HIPAA regulations requiring certain guaranteed issuance and
renewability of health insurance coverage for individuals and
small groups (generally groups with 50 or fewer employees)
and limitations on exclusions based on pre-existing conditions.
HIPAA also imposes administrative simplication requirements
for electronic transactions�
HIPAA also imposes requirements on health insurers, health
plans and health care providers to ensure the privacy and
security of protected health information. These privacy and
security provisions were further expanded by the privacy
provisions contained in the Health Information Technology
for Economic and Clinical Health Act (the “HITECH Act”) and
its accompanying Omnibus Rule enacted in January 2013,
which enhances penalties for violations of HIPAA and requires
regulated entities to provide notice of security breaches
of protected health information to individuals and HHS. In
addition, certain of our activities are subject to the privacy
regulations of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which, along with
regulations adopted thereunder, generally requires insurers
to provide customers with notice regarding how their non-
public personal health and nancial information is used, and
to provide them with the opportunity to “opt out” of certain
disclosures, if applicable�
Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer
Protection Act
Regulations under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and
Consumer Protection Act (the “Dodd-Frank Act”) address
mortgage servicers’ obligations to correct errors asserted
by mortgage loan borrowers; to provide certain information
requested by such borrowers; and to provide protections to
such borrowers; in connection with lender-placed insurance;
and these requirements affect our operations because, in
many instances, we administer such operations on behalf of
our mortgage servicer clients. While the CFPB does not have
direct jurisdiction over insurance products, it is possible that
additional regulations promulgated by the CFPB, such as those
mentioned, may extend its authority more broadly to cover
these products and thereby affect the Company or our clients�
International Regulation
We are subject to regulation and supervision of our
international operations in various jurisdictions. These
regulations, which vary depending on the jurisdiction, include
anti-corruption laws; solvency and market conduct regulations;
various privacy, insurance, tax, tariff and trade laws and
regulations; and corporate, employment, intellectual property
and investment laws and regulations.
Outside the U.S., the Company operates in Canada, the U.K.,
Ireland, France, Argentina, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Chile, Germany,
Spain, Italy, Mexico and China and our businesses are supervised
by local regulatory authorities of these jurisdictions. We also
have business activities in Peru, Colombia and South Korea
where we have gained access to these markets by registering
certain entities, where required, to act as reinsurers.
Our operations in the U.K., for example, are subject to
regulation by the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential
Regulation Authority� Authorized insurers are generally permitted
to operate throughout the rest of the European Union, subject
to satisfying certain requirements of these regulatory bodies
and meeting additional local regulatory requirements�