Free Massachusetts Life practice questions

Answer: D. At least once every twelve months, but not more often than once in any three-month period

Where a policy uses the adjustable maximum loan rate, section 142 requires the maximum to be determined at regular intervals, no less often than once every twelve months and no more often than once in any three-month period. A policy using the adjustable option cannot leave the rate set only at issue, and the six-month and three-year intervals are not the statutory limits.

Answer: C. The manager will keep a complete record of each transaction for at least ten years after each reinsurance contract expires

Sec. 177S lets a reinsurance intermediary manager represent a reinsurer only under a written contract approved by the reinsurer's board, and subsection (d) requires that contract to provide that the manager will keep a complete record of each transaction for at least ten years after each reinsurance contract it negotiated or placed expires. The period runs from expiration, not from the effective date or the filing of an annual statement, and it is ten years, not three. The duty reaches every transaction, not only claims the manager settles.

Answer: B. Within 15 days after the event

Section 134A requires that the certificate-holder be notified of the conversion privilege, and of how long it lasts, within 15 days after the event that triggers it. Notice given later than 15 days but before 90 days extends the conversion period to 15 days after the notice is given, and if no notice is given within 90 days the privilege expires when those 90 days end. So 90 days is the outer limit that applies to a late notice, not the notice deadline. Neither 30 nor 31 days appears in section 134A.

Answer: C. 90 days

An emergency cease and desist order under the Act takes effect immediately on service of a copy on the respondent and remains effective for 90 days. If the commissioner begins nonemergency cease and desist proceedings, the emergency order stays in effect absent an order by an appellate court under chapter 30A. Periods of 30, 60 or 180 days do not match the 90-day term the statute sets.

Answer: B. Up to $250 per day of delay

A provider that willfully fails to file its annual statement, which is due each year on or before March 1, may be penalized up to $250 for each day of delay, after due notice and an opportunity to be heard. The $100, $500 and $1,000 figures do not match the daily amount the statute sets.

Answer: A. Within 30 days after the matter reaches its final disposition

Section 162V(a) requires a producer to report an administrative action brought against the producer by another jurisdiction, or by another governmental agency in Massachusetts, within 30 days after the matter is finally disposed of, and to include a copy of the order or other relevant legal documents. The clock runs from the final disposition, not from the date the matter was opened or a hearing notice arrived, and the statute's 30-day deadline means the report cannot wait until renewal.

Answer: C. 5 days

Under section 162S(c), after receiving an appointment notice the commissioner must check the producer's eligibility within a reasonable time of no more than 30 days, and if the producer turns out to be ineligible, the insurer must be told within 5 days of that determination. Thirty days is the outer limit for the eligibility check itself, not for the notice of ineligibility. Fifteen days is the time the insurer has under section 162S(b) to file the appointment notice after the agency contract is executed or the first application is submitted. The section sets no 10-day period for this step.

Answer: A. The same as company: any corporation, association, partnership or individual acting as a principal in insurance

Section 1 of chapter 175 gives insurance company and insurer the same meaning as company, which it defines to cover corporations, associations, partnerships or individuals that engage as principals in the insurance business, reciprocal exchanges included, unless the context requires otherwise. A company incorporated or formed in the commonwealth is the separate definition of a domestic company, and one formed under another state's or government's authority is a foreign company; each is a narrower category, not the meaning of insurer. The definition turns on acting as a principal in the insurance business, not on holding a license to sell.

Answer: D. The contract may be made and solicited only as chapter 175, chapter 176 or another law expressly authorizes.

Section 3 forbids a company to make an insurance or annuity contract, expressly including one on a variable basis, on property, interests or lives in Massachusetts or with a resident, and forbids any person to solicit or sell one, except as chapter 175, chapter 176 or other law expressly authorizes. Because variable contracts are named, they are inside the section, and authority from a home state alone is not one of the listed sources. The section states that such contracts and their sale are not subject to chapter 110A. It covers lives and residents, not only property.

Answer: B. Thirty months from the date it is signed

Chapter 175I, section 6 requires an authorization form to state how long it stays valid, and for an authorization signed to collect information for an application, a policy reinstatement or a requested change in benefits, that period may be no longer than 30 months from signing. One year would be a permissible shorter term, but it is not the maximum. Tying validity to the policy's term of coverage is the limit only for an authorization connected with a claim for a health insurance benefit, and the duration of the claim is the limit for a claim that is not for a health benefit; neither applies to an authorization signed for an application.