Section 786 - Thirty-day examination periodAll individual and group disability insurance policies and certificates, and all group life insurance policies and certificates offered for sale to individuals age 65 or older in California shall provide an examination period of 30 days after the receipt of the policy or certificate for purposes of review of the contract. If the policyholder or certificate holder chooses to cancel the policy or certificate and returns the policy or certificate for cancellation, by mail or other delivery method, within the 30-day examination period, the return shall void the policy or certificate from the beginning, and the parties shall be in the same position as if a policy or certificate had not been issued. All premiums paid and any policy or membership fee paid shall be fully refunded to the policyholder or certificate holder by the insurer or entity in a timely manner.
(a) For the purposes of this section, a timely manner is no later than 30 days after the insurer or entity issuing the policy or certificate receives the returned policy or certificate.(b) If the insurer or entity issuing the policy or certificate fails to refund all of the premiums and any policy or membership fee paid, in a timely manner, the policyholder or certificate holder shall receive interest on the paid premium and policy or membership fee at the legal rate of interest on judgments as provided in Section 685.010 of the Code of Civil Procedure. The interest shall be paid from the date the insurer or entity received the returned policy or certificate.(c) Each policy or certificate shall have a notice prominently printed in no less than 12-point bold print, on the front of the policy jacket or on the cover page of the policy or certificate and the outline of coverage, stating that the policyholder or certificate holder, as applicable, has the right to return the policy or certificate, by mail or other delivery method, within 30 days after its receipt, and to have the full premium and any policy or membership fee paid refunded.(d) If, at the time of application or at the time of delivery of a group term life insurance policy or certificate, an insurer, its agent, group master policyowner, or association collects more than one month's premium from an individual who is 60 years of age or older on the date he or she purchased coverage, the insurer shall provide the individual with a prorated refund of the premium if the individual delivers a cancellation request to the insurer during the first 30 days of the policy period.(e) This section shall become operative on July 1, 2015.Added by Stats 2014 ch 166 (AB 2347),s 2, eff. 1/1/2015.