The untold story, however, is that all insurance policyholders in the state will be forced to pay if the pool does not have enough funding to honor its claims, which is most likely when the next large-scale disaster hits.
But many insurance contracts aren't really investments at all, paying policyholders from the general assets of the company.
Standard Life says it will be writing to all eligible policyholders in the coming weeks with details of the impact of this decision.
Mr. Dilweg, who was appointed by the court as the overseer of the Ambac case, said that segregating the loss-ridden mortgage securities from other healthier deals insured by Ambac is the best approach for all its policyholders and for the public.
They can extend the policies only if they first take two crucial steps — inform the policyholders of all the consumer protections their current policies lack (like yearly limits on a patient's out-of-pocket expenses), and make them aware of their options to buy better policies in the exchanges, often with the help of federal subsidies.
In announcing the insurance department approval of the split in 2009, Eric Dinallo, then superintendent, stated, "This deal is fair to all policyholders — the bank counterparties and other policyholders of the structured financings and the owners and issuers of municipal bonds".
While the insurer's right to collect the information raised a general question applicable to all policyholders, the consent issue did not.
I knew that the insurance company — and, indirectly, all its policyholders — would pick up most of the tab.
Europe's largest member-owned insurer said the changes were designed to protect its financial position and "balance the interests of all our policyholders".
The Treasury says this equates to 20% of all individual policyholders due a payment from the scheme.
