Jon Godfread Commissioner | North Dakota Insurance Department
Jon Godfread Commissioner | North Dakota Insurance Department
A North Dakota district court judge has approved a motion for summary judgment by Insurance Commissioner Jon Godfread, blocking an illegal rate increase on consumers of a financially troubled long-term care insurance company operated by the state of Pennsylvania.
In 2021, the Senior Health Insurance Company of Pennsylvania became financially unsustainable, prompting the Pennsylvania insurance commissioner to take control. The company then sought to impose rate hikes without adhering to North Dakota’s prior approval laws, which mandate that rate changes be approved by the insurance commissioner. Approximately 371 policyholders in North Dakota were at risk of being affected by these proposed rate hikes and other potential drawbacks.
In response, Godfread filed a lawsuit against the Pennsylvania insurance commissioner in 2022 to prevent the implementation of these illegal rate increases. A temporary halt was put in place in 2023 until the case could be heard. On March 10, 2025, the District Court of North Dakota granted Godfread's motion.
“This ruling upholds North Dakota’s right to protect and preserve its laws, regardless of who is violating them,” stated Godfread. “My priority is to protect North Dakota consumers, and when a company is attempting to subvert our laws and undercut the state-based system of insurance regulation that has existed for the past 150 years, I have a duty to stop it.”
Pennsylvania officials have been given 60 days to appeal this decision to the North Dakota Supreme Court.
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