House Bill No. 7226, effective January 1, 2026, introduces significant regulations regarding long-term care (LTC) insurance and the eligibility criteria for state contracts with insurers. The bill requires the Insurance Department to conduct public hearings for any LTC premium rate increase requests that exceed ten percent, with insurers obligated to notify policyholders at least fourteen days prior to these hearings. Additionally, insurers must provide written notice to potential policyholders about the risk of future premium rate increases before they purchase any LTC policy. The bill also amends loss ratio requirements, ensuring that no LTC policy has a loss ratio of less than sixty percent, and mandates that any premium rate changes receive approval from the commissioner, demonstrating compliance with these loss ratio requirements and certifying the necessity of the increase to prevent insolvency.

Moreover, starting October 1, 2025, state agencies are prohibited from entering into contracts with insurers unless they include a representation that no key personnel have violated specific provisions of the act or related statutes in the past five years. If a bidder does not agree to these representations, their proposal will be rejected. The bill also requires state agencies to incorporate these representation requirements into their bid specifications and establishes a memorandum of understanding between the Insurance Commissioner and the Commissioner of Administrative Services for information sharing to verify compliance. The implementation of these provisions is expected to incur costs to the Insurance Fund, estimated at $70,700 in FY 26 and $137,600 in FY 27 and annually thereafter.