HELENA, MT—Montana State Fund (MSF), the state’s largest and leading workers’ compensation insurance company, announced the signing of House Bill 836 (Rep. K. Zolnikov—Billings) on Wednesday. HB836, creates a ‘regulatory sandbox’ in which property and casualty insurers can apply for waivers to test new and different products or services.
Insurance routinely ranks as one of the top ten most regulated industries in the country. These controls create stability and reliability but have the potential to slow down or even prevent adoption of new technologies, services, and products. An insurance sandbox creates a partnership model between the regulator and an insurer. The partnership reduces specified regulatory hurdles in order to allow time-bound testing of innovations under the regulator’s oversight.
MSF, in conjunction with the Frontier Institute and the Commissioner of Securities and Insurance, assisted in the drafting of the bill which is believed to be the first of its kind in the nation. It allows workers’ compensation insurers the ability to test concepts that can improve the injured worker experience or speed up the return-to-work process thereby reducing the cost of claims and helping drive down premium rates for employers.
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