87.4  Group and self-insured plans — tax exemption — plan approval.
  1.  For the purpose of complying with this chapter, groups of employers by themselves or in an association with any or all of their workers, may form insurance associations as hereafter provided, subject to such reasonable conditions and restrictions as may be fixed by the insurance commissioner; and membership in such mutual insurance organization as approved, together with evidence of the payment of premiums due, shall be evidence of compliance with this chapter.
  2.  A self-insurance association formed under this section and an association comprised of cities or counties, or both, or the association of Iowa fairs or a fair as defined in section 174.1, or community colleges as defined in section 260C.2 or school corporations, or both, or other political subdivisions, which have entered into an agreement under chapter 28E for the purpose of establishing a self-insured program for the payment of workers’ compensation benefits are exempt from taxation under section 432.1.
  3.  A plan shall be submitted to the commissioner of insurance for review and approval prior to its implementation. The commissioner shall adopt rules for the review and approval of a self-insured group plan provided under this section. The rules shall include but are not limited to the following:
  a.  Procedures for submitting a plan for approval including the establishment of a fee schedule to cover the costs of conducting the review.
  b.  Establishment of minimum financial standards to ensure the ability of the plan to adequately cover the reasonably anticipated expenses.
  4.  A self-insured program for the payment of workers’ compensation benefits established by an association comprised of cities or counties, or both, or the association of Iowa fairs or a fair as defined in section 174.1, or community colleges, as defined in section 260C.2, or other political subdivisions, which have entered into an agreement under chapter 28E, is not insurance, and is not subject to regulation under chapters 505 through 523C. Membership in such an association together with payment of premiums due relieves the member from obtaining insurance as required in section 87.1. Such an association is not required to submit its plan or program to the commissioner of insurance for review and approval prior to its implementation and is not subject to rules or rates adopted by the commissioner relating to workers’ compensation group self-insurance programs. Such a program is deemed to be in compliance with this chapter.
  5.  The workers’ compensation premium written on a municipality which is a member of an insurance pool which provides workers’ compensation insurance coverage to a statewide group of municipalities, as defined in section 670.1, shall not be considered in the determination of any assessments levied pursuant to an agreement established under section 515A.15.
[S13, §2477-m42; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §1470; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §87.4]
85 Acts, ch 251, §1; 88 Acts, ch 1112, §201, 202; 89 Acts, ch 83, §19; 90 Acts, ch 1067, §1, 2; 95 Acts, ch 185, §1; 97 Acts, ch 37, §5; 2000 Acts, ch 1023, §1, 2; 2008 Acts, ch 1032, §201; 2008 Acts, ch 1139, §1; 2008 Acts, ch 1191, §121, 122
Referred to in