Property and casualty insurers’ state rate and form filings are now publicly available without a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request.
The New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) has launched an application on its website that offers access to the rate and form filings. The filings contain information insurers send to the state to support rate increases, new-product introductions, and existing-product modifications.
The filings are available by visiting https://myportal.dfs.ny.gov/web/guest-applications/serff-property-foil.
Available information, which is considered public record, was previously only available by filing a FOIL request. DFS processes nearly 3,000 FOIL requests for insurer filings each year.
“Making these filings available electronically will mean people will not have to wait 10 days or more for [a FOIL] request to be manually processed and mailed, but can simply download any filings they want to review,” DFS Superintendent Benjamin Lawsky said in a news release. “This will increase transparency, promote greater efficiency, and help drive down the department’s cost of doing business. Easier access to this information may also encourage greater innovation in the insurance industry.”
DFS plans to continue to review the information it makes public to make sure it does not release any insurers’ confidential information.
Contact Seltzer at rseltzer@cnybj.com