(a) One of the major provisions of chapter 369 of the Laws of 1985 requires approval of certificates by the Superintendent of Financial Services in accordance with section 3201(b)(1) of the Insurance Law when such certificates insure New York residents under a group insurance policy delivered outside of New York to a group that, as of January 1, 1986, is a newly recognized group under New York law or is a group not specifically described in section 4216(b), 4235(c)(1) or 4237(a)(3) of the Insurance Law. This approval procedure was required to provide the basic protection of New York law and regulations to residents of this State when they purchase insurance coverage through out-of-state group arrangements where the individual insured has no close association or afffiliation with the group policyholder.

(b) In order to provide the basic protections of New York law and regulations, the same substantive standards applicable to traditional groups should apply to all certificates deemed to have been delivered in this State pursuant to the above statute. However, the provision that basic group standards be applied has been modified in two instances:

(c) In addition, for the newly recognized groups and those groups not specifically described in the Insurance Law, benefit ratio standards will apply to life, accident and health, and blanket insurance for New York residents regardless of where the group policy is delivered.