How do the new federal and state privacy laws affect insurance?
For life and health insurance consumers (including disability, long-term care, and Medicare Supplement), there is very little change in the law. The Maine Privacy Act has been in place for several years and is one of the strongest insurance consumer privacy laws in the nation. In most respects, the state law already equals or exceeds the requirements of the federal Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. Under the federal law one of the new requirements is that notices to consumers must now be sent every year instead of every two years. Also, changes this year primarily affect homeowner’s insurance, personal auto insurance, and other personal property and casualty lines. These lines of insurance will also become subject to the Maine Privacy Act effective September 21, 2001, as a result of recently passed state legislation. In the meantime, property and casualty companies that had not already adopted similar practices on a voluntary basis became subject to the notice and confidentiality requirements of
