5. a. No policy of group life insurance shall be delivered or issued for delivery in this State unless it contains in substance the following provisions, or provisions which in the opinion of the Commissioner of Banking and Insurance are more favorable to the persons insured, or at least as favorable to the persons insured and more favorable to the policyholder. However, subsections g. through l. of this section shall not apply to policies insuring the lives of debtors; the standard provisions required for individual life insurance policies shall not apply to group life insurance policies; and if the group life insurance policy is on a plan of insurance other than the term plan, it shall contain a nonforfeiture provision which, in the opinion of the commissioner, is equitable to the insured persons and to the policyholder. Nothing herein shall be construed to require that group life insurance policies contain the same nonforfeiture provisions as are required for individual life insurance policies.

b. The policy shall contain a provision that the policyholder is entitled to a grace period of 31 days for the payment of any premium due except the first, during which grace period the death benefit coverage shall continue in force, unless the policyholder gives the insurer written notice of discontinuance in advance of the date of discontinuance and in accordance with the terms of the policy. The policy may provide that the policyholder shall be liable to the insurer for the payment of a pro rata premium for the time the policy was in force during the grace period.

c. The policy shall contain a provision that the validity of the policy shall not be contested except for nonpayment of premiums after it has been in force for two years from its date of issue; and that no statement made by any person insured under the policy relating to the person’s insurability shall be used in contesting the validity of the insurance with respect to which the statement was made after the insurance has been in force prior to the contest for a period of two years during the person’s lifetime or unless it is contained in a written instrument signed by the person.

d. The policy shall contain a provision that a copy of the application of the policyholder, if any, shall be attached to the policy when issued, that all statements made by the policyholder or by the persons insured shall be deemed representations and not warranties, and that no statement made by any person insured shall be used in any contest unless a copy of the instrument containing the statement is or has been furnished to the person or, in the event of death or incapacity of the insured person, to the insured person’s beneficiary or personal representative.

e. The policy shall contain a provision setting forth the conditions, if any, under which the insurer reserves the right to require a person eligible for insurance to furnish evidence of individual insurability satisfactory to the insurer as a condition to part or all of his coverage.

f. The policy shall contain a provision specifying an equitable adjustment of premiums or benefits, or both, to be made in the event the age of a person insured has been misstated. The provision shall contain a clear statement of the method of adjustment to be made.

g. The policy shall contain a provision that any sum becoming due by reason of the death of the person insured shall be payable to the beneficiary designated by the person insured, except that, where the policy contains conditions pertaining to family status, the beneficiary may be the family member specified by the policy terms, subject to the provisions of the policy in the event there is no designated beneficiary, as to all or any part of the sum, living at the death of the person insured, and subject to any right reserved by the insurer in the policy and set forth in the certificate to pay at its option a part of the sum not exceeding $2,000 to any person appearing to the insurer to be equitably entitled to it by reason of having incurred funeral or other expenses incident to the last illness or death of the person insured.

h. The policy shall contain a provision that the insurer will issue to the policyholder, for delivery to each person insured, a certificate setting forth a statement as to the insurance protection to which the person is entitled, to whom the insurance benefits are payable, a statement as to any dependent‘s coverage included in the certificate, and the rights and conditions set forth in subsections i., j., k., and l. of this subsection.

i. The policy shall contain a provision that, if the insurance, or any portion of it, on a person covered under the policy or on the dependent of a person covered, ceases because of termination of employment or of membership in the class eligible for coverage under the policy or change to a class eligible for a smaller amount of insurance, the person shall be entitled to have issued to him by the insurer, without evidence of insurability, an individual policy of life insurance without disability or other supplementary benefits, provided application for the individual policy shall be made, and the first premium paid to the insurer, within 31 days after termination and provided further that:

(1) The individual policy shall, at the option of the person, be on any one of the forms then customarily issued by the insurer at the age and for the amount applied for, except that the group policy may exclude the option to elect term insurance;

(2) The individual policy shall be in an amount not in excess of the amount of life insurance that ceases because of termination, less the amount of any life insurance for which the person becomes eligible under the same or any other group policy within 31 days after termination, provided that any amount of insurance that shall have matured on or before the date of termination as an endowment payable to the person insured, whether in one sum or in installments or in the form of an annuity, shall not, for the purposes of this provision, be included in the amount that is considered to cease because of termination; and

(3) The premium on the individual policy shall be at the insurer’s then customary rate applicable to the form and amount of the individual policy, to the class of risk to which the person then belongs, and to the individual age attained on the effective date of the individual policy. Subject to the conditions established in paragraphs (1) and (2) of this subsection, the conversion privilege shall be available:

(a) To a surviving dependent, if any, at the death of the employee or member, with respect to the coverage under the group policy that terminates by reason of the death; and

(b) To the dependent of the employee or member upon termination of coverage of the dependent, while the employee or member remains insured under the group policy, by reason of the dependent ceasing to be a qualified family member under the group policy.

j. The policy shall contain a provision that if the group policy terminates or is amended so as to terminate the insurance of any class of insured persons, every person insured thereunder at the date of termination whose insurance terminates, including the insured dependent of a covered person, and who has been so insured under a group policy for at least five years prior to the termination date, shall be entitled to have issued by the insurer an individual policy of life insurance, subject to the same conditions and limitations as are provided by subsection i. of this section, except that the group policy may provide that the amount of the individual policy shall not exceed the smaller of:

(1) The amount of the person’s life insurance protection ceasing because of the termination or amendment of the group policy, less the amount of any life insurance for which the person is or becomes eligible under a group policy issued or reinstated by the same or another insurer within 31 days after termination; or

(2) $10,000.

k. The policy shall contain a provision that, if a person insured under the group policy, or the insured dependent of a covered person, dies during the period within which the individual would have been entitled to have an individual policy issued in accordance with subsection i. or j. of this section and before the individual policy shall have become effective, the amount of life insurance which he would have been entitled to have issued under the individual policy shall be payable as a claim under the group policy, whether or not application for the individual policy or the payment of the first premium therefor had been made.

l. Where active employment is a condition of insurance, the policy shall contain a provision that an insured may continue coverage during the insured’s total disability by timely payment to the policyholder of that portion, if any, of the premium that would have been required from the insured had total disability not occurred. The continuation shall be on a premium paying basis for a period of six months from the date on which the total disability started, but not beyond the earlier of:

(1) Approval by the insurer of continuation of the coverage under any disability provision which the group insurance policy may contain; or

(2) The discontinuance of the group insurance policy.

m. In the case of a policy insuring the lives of debtors, the policy shall contain a provision that the insurer shall furnish to the policyholder for delivery to each debtor insured under the policy a certificate of insurance describing the coverage and specifying that the death benefit shall first be applied to reduce or extinguish the indebtedness.

n. In participating policies, there shall be a provision that the policy shall participate in the divisible surplus of the insurer as determined by the insurer and that the insurer shall determine annually the extent of such participation, if any; and that the policyholder shall have the right to any dividend arising from the participation paid in cash unless another dividend option contained in the policy has been elected.

o. In the case of a policy which provides that each insured debtor whose protection under the group insurance policy terminates by reason of absolute assignment by the creditor of the insured debtor’s indebtedness for the discharge of which the debtor had agreed upon installment payments over a period of more than 10 years, there shall be a provision that each insured debtor shall be entitled to have issued to him by the insurer, without evidence of insurability, upon application made to the insurer and upon the payment of the premium applicable to the class of risk to which he belongs and to the form and amount of the policy at his then attained age within 31 days after that assignment of the indebtedness, an individual policy of life insurance; provided, the individual policy of life insurance so issued shall be in any one of the level premium forms customarily issued by the insurer, except term insurance, in an amount equal to the amount of his protection terminated under the group insurance policy because of the assignment, less the amount of insurance for which the insured debtor may become eligible and qualify under any group insurance policy in effect with the assignee at the date of the assignment or issued to the assignee within that period of 31 days; and provided further, that in the event that the assignment of the indebtedness shall have been made by the creditor at the request of the insured debtor, the insurer may require satisfactory evidence of the debtor’s insurability before making the individual policy of life insurance effective. If the insured debtor dies during the period within which he would have been entitled to have an individual policy issued to him in accordance with this provision and before such an individual policy shall have become effective, the amount of life insurance which he would have been entitled to have issued to him under that individual policy shall be payable as a claim under the group policy, whether or not application for the individual policy or the payment of the first premium therefor has been made.

L.2005,c.190,s.5.