§12531. Purchase of insurance

(a) Purchase Authorized.-The Secretary may, instead of or in addition to underwriting the insurance program through the Fund, purchase from one or more insurance companies a policy or policies of group insurance in order to provide the benefits required under this chapter. The Secretary may waive any requirement for full and open competition in order to purchase an insurance policy under this subsection.

(b) Eligible Insurers.-In order to be eligible to sell insurance to the Secretary for purposes of subsection (a), an insurance company shall-

(1) be licensed to issue insurance in each of the 50 States and in the District of Columbia; and

(2) as of the most recent December 31 for which information is available to the Secretary, have in effect at least one percent of the total amount of insurance that all such insurance companies have in effect in the United States.

(c) Administrative Provisions.-(1) An insurance company that issues a policy for purposes of subsection (a) shall establish an administrative office at a place and under a name designated by the Secretary.

(2) For the purposes of carrying out this chapter, the Secretary may use the facilities and services of any insurance company issuing any policy for purposes of subsection (a), may designate one such company as the representative of the other companies for such purposes, and may contract to pay a reasonable fee to the designated company for its services.

(d) Reinsurance.-The Secretary shall arrange with each insurance company issuing any policy for purposes of subsection (a) to reinsure, under conditions approved by the Secretary, portions of the total amount of the insurance under such policy or policies with such other insurance companies (which meet qualifying criteria prescribed by the Secretary) as may elect to participate in such reinsurance.

(e) Termination.-The Secretary may at any time terminate any policy purchased under this section.

(Added Pub. L. 104–106, div. A, title V, §512(a)(1), Feb. 10, 1996, 110 Stat. 304 .)