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Regulations may specify information to be provided to policy holders and potential policy holders of type of health insurance contract, etc.
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11.— The Act of 1994 is amended by substituting the following section for section 13:
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“13.— (1) Subject to subsection (3), if the Minister considers, after having consulted with the Authority, that it is in the interests of policy holders or potential policy holders of a type of health insurance contract that certain information should accompany the contract, the Minister may make regulations—
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(a) specifying the type of contract and the information,
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(b) requiring registered undertakings which supply the contract to ensure that the information accompanies the contract in the manner and form specified in the regulations,
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(c) regulating or prohibiting the supply by registered undertakings of the contract if any regulation made under paragraph (b) is not complied with in so far as the regulation applies to the contract, and
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(d) without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (a), requiring registered undertakings to include a statement in their offers to renew health insurance contracts, or a class of such offers, as to the rights (including open enrolment rights), or a class of such rights, of the policy holders concerned in respect of the contracts.
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(2) Subject to subsection (3), if the Minister considers, after having consulted with the Authority, that it is in the interests of policy holders or potential policy holders of a type of health insurance contract that certain information should accompany advertisements which relate (whether in whole or in part) to the contract, the Minister may make regulations—
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(a) specifying the type of contract and the information, and
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(b) requiring registered undertakings, the advertising of which relates (whether in whole or in part) to the contract, to ensure that the information accompanies the advertisements in the manner and form specified in the regulations.
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(3) The Minister shall not make a regulation under this section unless the Minister is of the opinion that—
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(a) the typical policy holder or potential policy holder of the type of health insurance contract concerned would need the information concerned in order to make an informed contract decision, and
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(b) if such information was withheld, omitted or concealed, it would be likely to cause the typical policy holder or potential policy holder of such a contract to make a contract decision that the policy holder or potential policy holder, as the case may be, would not otherwise make.
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(4) Nothing in this section shall be construed to preclude a regulation being made under this section which applies to all types of health insurance contract.
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(5) Regulations made under subsection (2) may be expressed to apply to a type of advertisement specified in the regulations.
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(6) In this section—
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‘ accompanied ’—
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(a) in relation to information to accompany a health insurance contract—
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(i) includes accompanied by way of being incorporated into or stamped on the contract, and
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(ii) in the case of an offer to renew the contract, includes accompanied by way of being incorporated into or stamped on the offer to renew the contract made prior to the issue of the contract where such offer is accepted,
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and
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(b) in relation to information to accompany an advertisement which relates (whether in whole or in part) to a health insurance contract, includes accompanied by way of—
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(i) being incorporated into the advertisement, or
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(ii) there being a reference in the advertisement to the means by which the information may be readily obtained;
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‘ advertisement ’ includes any form of advertising or marketing;
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‘ contract decision ’, in relation to a type of health insurance contract, means—
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(a) a decision on whether or not to enter into a contract of health insurance of that type, or
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(b) if a contract of health insurance of that type has already been entered into, a decision on whether or not to—
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(i) cancel the contract,
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(ii) renew the contract, or
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(iii) exercise a contractual right under the contract;
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‘ supply ’, in relation to a health insurance contract, includes furnish, offer or agree to supply and expose or display for supply.”.
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