Florida regulators have given the go-ahead for an insurer that wants to provide foreign nationals with access to the U.S. health insurance market.
Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty announced that Best Doctors Limited has been approved to be the first offshore insurer to do business in the state under a law passed earlier this year.
The new law, HB 1087, allows insurers domiciled outside the U.S. that only cover foreign nationals to operate in Florida without obtaining a certificate of insurance. The insurer must meet the state’s minimum capital and surplus requirements and submit both annual and quarterly financial statements to regulators.
Under the law, foreign nationals can purchase property/ casualty, life and health insurance, and other insurance products for the time they are in Florida. They will also be allowed to visit Florida to utilize any services covered under a policy.
The Bermuda-based Best Doctors is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Best Doctors Inc., which was founded in 1989 by a group of Harvard Medical School professors. Munich Re Group, Aetna, and Nippon Life all have a minority stake in the company. The insurer has more than $47 million in cash and investments with revenues of $94 million in 2010.
Best Doctors specializes in individual and corporate health insurance, including riders for organ transplants. It also markets travel insurance to foreign nationals who are traveling to the states and back.
Best Doctors President Evan Falchuk said the insurer is planning to aggressively ramp-up its Florida operation and serve the foreign market, particularly those from Latin America.
“We’re already off to a fast start with our Miami office, have hired a big handful of Floridians to staff it, and expect it to be a major driver in our ability to reach the Latin American insurance market,” Falchuk said.
McCarty said the new law under which Best Doctors was approved should help the state add jobs.
“This announcement sends a signal to international insurance carriers that Florida is open for business,” said McCarty. “The passage of HB 1087 will help create an even more attractive business climate thereby encouraging job creation and economic growth in our state that could add hundreds of jobs in south Florida.”
Was this article valuable?
Here are more articles you may enjoy.
Supreme Court Makes It Easier to Sue for Job Discrimination 
Progressive Records Five-Fold Increase in Q1 Net Income 
Vintage Ferrari Owners’ Favorite Mechanic Charged With Theft, Fraud 
Wildfires Are Upending Some of the Safest Bets on Wall Street 
