Section 110. Introductory, initial, or special offers

A. An advertisement of one policy or combination of policies shall not state or imply that the policy or combination of policies is an introductory, initial, or special offer, or that applicants will receive substantial advantages not available at a later date, or that the offer is available only to a specified group of individuals, unless that is the fact. An advertisement shall not describe an enrollment period as "special" or "limited" or use similar words or phrases in describing it when the insurer uses successive enrollment periods as its usual method of marketing its policies.

B. An advertisement shall not state or imply that only a specific number of policies will be sold, or that a time is fixed for the discontinuance of the sale of a particular policy because of special advantages available in the policy.

C. An advertisement shall not offer a policy that utilizes a reduced initial premium rate in a manner that overemphasizes the availability and the amount of the reduced initial premium. When an insurer charges an initial premium that differs in amount from the amount of the renewal premium payable on the same mode, all references to the reduced initial premium shall be followed by an asterisk or other appropriate symbol that refers the reader to that specific portion of the advertisement that contains the full rate schedule for the policy.

D. An enrollment period during which a particular policy may be purchased on an individual basis shall not be offered within this Commonwealth unless there has been a lapse of not less than six months between the close of the immediately preceding enrollment period for the same or substantially similar policy and the opening of a new enrollment period. The advertisement shall specify the date by which the applicant must mail the application, that shall be not less than 10 days and not more than 40 days from the date on which the enrollment period is presented for the first time in the advertisement. This section applies to all the affiliated companies of a group of insurance companies under common management or control. This section does not apply to the use of a termination or cutoff date beyond which an individual application for a guaranteed issue policy will not be accepted by an insurer in those instances where the application has been sent to the applicant in response to his request. It is also inapplicable to solicitations of employees or members of a particular group or association that otherwise would be eligible under specific provisions of the Code of Virginia for group, blanket, or franchise insurance. In cases where a policy is marketed on a direct response basis to prospective insureds by reason of some common relationship with a sponsoring organization, this section shall be applied separately to each sponsoring organization.

Historical Notes

Derived from Volume 27, Issue 14, eff. July 1, 2011.

Statutory Authority

§§ 12.1-13 and 38.2-223 of the Code of Virginia.