§33-12-8a. Producer training for long-term care products; record retention requirements.

(a) (1) No individual may sell, solicit or negotiate long-term care insurance unless he or she is licensed as a producer for accident and sickness insurance in accordance with the provisions of this article and has completed a one-time training course that meets the requirements of subsection (b) of this section: Provided, That a producer selling, soliciting or negotiating long-term care insurance on July 1, 2009, is permitted to continue such activities and must complete the one-time training course prior to July 1, 2010.

(2) In addition to the one-time training course required in subdivision (1) of this subsection, every producer who sells, solicits or negotiates long-term care insurance shall complete ongoing training that meets the requirements of subsection (b) of this section.

(b) (1) The one-time training shall be no less than eight hours.

(2) Beginning July 1, 2010, the ongoing training required by subsection (a) of this section shall be no less than four hours in each mandatory continuing education biennium subsequent to that in which the one-time training was completed.

(3) The training required by this section shall consist of topics related to long-term care insurance, long-term care services and, if applicable, qualified state long-term care insurance partnership programs, including, but not limited to, state and federal regulations and requirements and the relationship between qualified state long-term care insurance partnership programs and other public and private coverage of long-term care services, including Medicaid; available long-term services and providers; changes or improvements in long-term care services or providers; alternatives to the purchase of private long-term care insurance; the effect of inflation on benefits and the importance of inflation protection; and consumer suitability standards and guidelines: Provided, That the training required by this section may not include training that is insurer or company product-specific or that includes any sales or marketing information, materials or training, other than those required by state or federal law.

(4) The training required by this section may be approved for continuing education credit by the board of Insurance Agent Education in the manner as set forth in section eight of this article.

(c) An insurer subject to this chapter shall:

(1) Verify that each producer appointed to sell its long-term care products is compliant with this section before the producer is permitted to sell, solicit or negotiate such products; and

(2) Maintain records supporting the verification for five years and make the records available to the commissioner upon request.

(d) If this state participates in the federal Long-Term Care Partnership Program established under the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, Pub. L. 109-171:

(1) All training required by this section must be approved by the commissioner; and

(2) Any insurer subject to this chapter shall maintain records with respect to the training of its appointed producers that will allow the commissioner to provide assurances to the state Medicaid agency that producers have received the training required by this section and that completion of such training is sufficient to demonstrate that the producer understands partnership policies and their relationship to public and private coverage of long-term care, including Medicaid, in this state.

(e) A nonresident individual producer's satisfaction of another state's training requirements is satisfaction of this section.