North Dakota Code 26.1-36-14 – Minimum accident and health policy language simplification standards
1. No policy form may be delivered or issued for delivery in this state unless:
Terms Used In North Dakota Code 26.1-36-14
- Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
- following: when used by way of reference to a chapter or other part of a statute means the next preceding or next following chapter or other part. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- Organization: includes a foreign or domestic association, business trust, corporation, enterprise, estate, joint venture, limited liability company, limited liability partnership, limited partnership, partnership, trust, or any legal or commercial entity. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- Rule: includes regulation. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
a. The text achieves a minimum score of forty on the Flesch reading ease test or an equivalent score on any other comparable test as provided in subsection 3.
b. It is printed, except for specification pages, schedules, and tables, in not less than ten-point type, one point leaded.
c. The style, arrangement, and overall appearance of the policy give no undue prominence to any portion of the text of the policy or to any endorsement or rider.
d. It contains a table of contents or an index of the principal sections of the policy, if the policy has more than three thousand words printed or three or fewer pages of text, or if the policy has more than three pages regardless of the number of words.
2. The commissioner may authorize a lower score than the Flesch reading ease score required in subdivision a of subsection 1 whenever the commissioner finds that a lower score:
a. Will provide a more accurate reflection of the readability of a policy form.
b. Is warranted by the nature of a particular policy form or type or class of policy forms.
c. Is caused by certain policy language which is drafted to conform to the requirements of any state law or rule, or agency interpretation.
3. A Flesch reading ease test score is measured by the following method:
a. For policy forms containing ten thousand words or less of text, the entire form must be analyzed. For policy forms containing more than ten thousand words, the readability of two 200-word samples per page may be analyzed instead of the entire form. The samples must be separated by at least twenty printed lines.
b. The number of words and sentences in the text must be counted and the total number of words divided by the total number of sentences. The figure obtained must be multiplied by a factor of one and fifteen thousandths.
c. The total number of syllables must be counted and divided by the total number of words. The figure obtained must be multiplied by a factor of eighty-four and six-tenths.
d. The sum of the figures computed under subdivisions b and c subtracted from two hundred six and eight hundred thirty-five thousandths equals the Flesch reading ease score for the policy form.
e. For purposes of subdivisions b, c, and d, the following procedures must be used: (1) A contraction, hyphenated word, or numbers and letters, when separated by spaces, shall be counted as one word.
(2) A unit of words ending with a period, semicolon, or colon, but excluding headings and captions, shall be counted as a sentence.
(3) A syllable means a unit of spoken language consisting of one or more letters of a word as divided by an accepted dictionary. When the dictionary shows two or more equally acceptable pronunciations of a word, the pronunciation containing fewer syllables may be used.
4. As used in this section, “text” includes all printed matter except:
a. The name and address of the insurer, the name, number, or title of the policy, the table of contents or index, captions and subcaptions, specification pages, schedules, and tables.
b. Any policy language drafted to conform to the requirements of any federal law, regulation, or agency interpretation, any policy language required by any collectively bargained agreement, any medical terminology, any words defined in the policy, and any policy language required by law or rule, provided, however, the insurer identifies the language or terminology excepted by this subdivision and certifies, in writing, that the language or terminology is entitled to be excepted by this subdivision.
5. The commissioner may approve any other reading test for use as an alternative to the Flesch reading ease test if the other test is comparable in result to the Flesch reading ease test.
6. Filings subject to this section must provide the minimum reading ease score or a statement that the score is lower than the minimum required but should be approved in accordance with subsection 2. To confirm the accuracy of any statement, the commissioner may require the submission of further information to verify the certification in question.
7. At the option of the insurance company, nonprofit health service corporation, fraternal benefit society, or health maintenance organization, riders, endorsements, applications, and other forms made a part of the policy may be scored as separate forms or as part of the policy with which they may be used.