New Mexico declared a statewide public health emergency on March 11, 2020. The State of New Mexico Office of Superintendent of Insurance issued Bulletin 2020-006 on March 20, 2020, which includes the following guidance:
Cancellations and Nonrenewals
The Superintendent of Insurance requests that:
- All carriers:
- Refrain from cancelling or non-renewing policies of businesses and individuals negatively impacted by the COVID-19 disruption due to the non-payment of premiums.
- At minimum, provide extended grace periods for payment of premiums.
- Work with their insureds after the public health emergency is over to allow the insureds to catch up on past due premiums in installments without loss of coverage.
- All insurance agents, brokers, and other licensees who accept premium payments on behalf of insurers take steps to ensure that customers have the ability to make their insurance payments, including alternate methods of payment to eliminate the need for in-person contact.
This request applies to all admitted and non-admitted insurance companies.
Carriers are encouraged to implement these practices as soon as possible and consider extending them for minimum of (30) days after the emergency is declared over.
The entirety of Bulletin 2020-006 may be found here.