Kentucky insurance laws
What Kentucky has enacted on insurance, what each law requires, and what the bills still moving would do. Kentucky is one of 51 states that enacted an insurance law in the 2025 and 2026 sessions.
5 new Kentucky laws take effect in 2027
- Bills in scope
- 109bills in scope
- Past committee
- 34past committee
- Most recent action
- 14 April 2026most recent action
Insurance laws enacted in Kentucky
25 insurance laws enacted in the Kentucky Legislature in the 2025 and 2026 sessions, newest first. Each links to the legislature's own page.
What it requires: Reparation obligors must pay basic reparation benefits up to ten thousand dollars per person per accident for economic loss from motor vehicle injuries. Medical expense payments must not exceed maximum fees established under KRS 342.035. Persons providing medical services must not collect charges exceeding permitted maximums or impair credit for unpaid balances.
Auto insurance, Licensing, solvency and market conduct
What it requires: Health plans must provide coverage for diagnosis and treatment of feeding or eating disorders. Insurers offering such coverage cannot deny, limit, or restrict coverage based on body mass index, ideal body weight, or achieved weight standards, but may consider eating behaviors, supervised meals, laboratory results, recovery environment, and co-occurring disorders when determining medical necessity.
Health coverage and plan regulation
What it requires: Every insurer shall offer a program allowing participating providers to qualify for prior authorization exemptions for covered health care services based on meeting performance standards during an evaluation period. Insurers must not condition exemptions on exceeding a 93% approval rate and must conduct annual evaluations and notify qualifying providers within 30 days.
Health coverage and plan regulation
What it requires: All health benefit plans providing coverage for mental health treatment must reimburse benefits delivered through the psychiatric collaborative care model, except insurers may deny reimbursement on medical necessity grounds if compliant with the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act and applicable utilization review requirements. This applies to plans issued, delivered, or renewed on or after January 1, 2027.
Health coverage and plan regulation
What it requires: The Department for Medicaid Services, managed care organizations contracted to provide Medicaid benefits, and the state's medical assistance program must comply with specified Kentucky Revised Statutes sections relating to pharmacist services and other health coverage requirements. The Cabinet for Health and Family Services must establish KCHIP eligibility criteria, benefit schedules, and premium contributions by administrative regulation.
What it requires: The act prohibits new public adjuster licenses and restricts existing licensees. Public adjusters must use commissioner-approved written contracts, maintain fiduciary trust accounts, provide disclosure documents, and cannot negotiate claims or have conflicts of interest. Apprentice adjusters must work under licensed adjuster supervision.
Licensing, solvency and market conduct
- HB 265AN ACT relating to regulatory authorizations by the commissioner of insurance.Enacted 10 April 2026
What it requires: A solvent company seeking voluntary dissolution must adopt a written dissolution plan approved by its board of directors and two-thirds of voting policyholders or members, providing for disposition of all insurance in force and full discharge of all obligations. The plan must be filed with and approved by the commissioner before trustees execute it and file articles of dissolution with the Secretary of State.
Workers' compensation, surety and specialty lines, Licensing, solvency and market conduct
- SB 343AN ACT relating to the Department of Workers' Claims and declaring an emergency.Enacted 9 April 2026
What it does: Creates the Department of Workers' Claims administratively attached to the Office of the Governor, headed by a commissioner appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate, reorganizing it from the Education and Labor Cabinet.
Workers' compensation, surety and specialty lines
What it requires: Contractors must furnish persons with mailing address, phone number, and specific notices before entering real estate goods or services contracts. Contractors must not require advance payments until the cancellation period expires, must not represent themselves as public adjusters or insurance specialists, must not cause property damage to increase contract scope, and must not offer deductible rebates or excessive compensation to insureds.
Property, catastrophe and climate risk, Licensing, solvency and market conduct
- HB 527AN ACT relating to insurance regulatory requirements and declaring an emergency.Enacted 7 April 2026
What it requires: The act amends Kentucky insurance regulatory definitions and requirements. Insurers must consider complaints before issuing or renewing certificates of authority or licenses. Licensed business entities must designate individuals to act under their licenses and maintain at least one designated licensee at all times. Financial institutions engaging in insurance activities must comply with all applicable licensing provisions and provide required consumer disclosures.
Health coverage and plan regulation, Life insurance and annuities, Licensing, solvency and market conduct
What it requires: All health benefit plans must provide coverage for prostheses and orthoses at least equivalent to Medicare coverage, including coverage for materials, components, instruction, repair, and replacement without continuous use or useful lifetime restrictions. Insurers must maintain reasonably adequate networks with at least two distinct licensed prosthetists or orthotists and must make utilization review decisions nondiscriminatorily without denying coverage solely based on disability.
Health coverage and plan regulation
What it requires: Health benefit plans must cover hearing aids and related services for insured individuals under eighteen years of age up to two thousand five hundred dollars per hearing-impaired ear every thirty-six months. Insurers using networks must ensure reasonably adequate and accessible networks for hearing aid provision. Insurers must not deny claims if less than three years have passed since a prior paid claim.
Health coverage and plan regulation
What it requires: Cost-sharing requirements in Kentucky state law apply to health savings account-qualified insurance plans only after the minimum deductible under 26 U.S.C. sec. 223 has been satisfied, if applying the requirement would cause the plan to lose its qualified status under federal law. Section 1 controls in conflicts with other state law.
Health coverage and plan regulation
- SB 158AN ACT relating to products that offer benefits in connection with personal property.Takes effect 1 January 2027
What it requires: Retail sellers of vehicles must insure debt waivers under a contractual liability or other insurance policy issued by an insurer complying with specified requirements. Creditors and providers of vehicle financial protection products must comply with disclosure, cancellation, refund, and financial security requirements. Extension of credit or loan terms cannot be conditioned on purchasing these products.
Auto insurance
What it requires: Health benefit plans issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2026 must provide coverage for all colorectal cancer examinations and laboratory tests specified in American Cancer Society or United States Multi-Society Task Force guidelines for individuals age 45 or older, or younger individuals at high risk, without prior authorization or cost-sharing requirements except as limited by Health Savings Account rules.
Health coverage and plan regulation
What it requires: Insurers providing dental benefit plans must honor written assignments of benefits from covered persons to providers using a commissioner-established form. Insurers must pay assigned providers directly at in-network rates upon receipt of the signed assignment and necessary coverage verification documentation. Covered persons may revoke assignments in writing to the insurer at any time.
Health coverage and plan regulation
What it requires: Towing companies and storage facilities must obtain a towing and storage facility certificate from the department before operating. They must file a rate sheet with the department showing reasonable and customary rates. They must provide notice to vehicle owners and lienholders within ten days of towing, maintain accessible business hours with 24-hour phone availability, and accept multiple payment methods.
Licensing, solvency and market conduct
- HB 524AN ACT relating to the Commonwealth's property and casualty insurance fund and declaring an emergency.Enacted 31 March 2025
What it requires: The Finance and Administration Cabinet must determine which state property to insure and insure property financed under statutory amortization plans. The Office of the Controller must contract for reinsurance limiting fund liability to ten million dollars per risk through June 30, 2030, then one million dollars thereafter. Agencies must notify the cabinet within thirty days of property damage.
Property, catastrophe and climate risk, Workers' compensation, surety and specialty lines
What it requires: The Governor must appoint administrative law judges and Workers' Compensation Board members from names presented by the Workers' Compensation Nominating Committee, subject to Senate consent. The nominating committee must consist of five members including attorneys representing claimants and employers, with at least two members deriving no earned income from the workers' compensation program.
Workers' compensation, surety and specialty lines
What it requires: A person applying to the insurance regulatory sandbox must submit an application with a $750 filing fee, detailed innovation description, regulatory issues analysis, technical documentation if applicable, insurance authority verification, officer certification of novelty, insurance counsel information, proposed beta test terms, performance metrics, disclosure of directors/officers/owners/beneficial owners of 10% or more, and $25,000 financial guarantee. Persons cannot apply if seeking to sell innovations to government entities, lacking required insurance compliance, having more than five active beta tests, or seeking exemptions from solvency, assigned risk, licensing, or tax requirements.
Licensing, solvency and market conduct
What it does: Creates an exemption from Subtitle 17A of KRS Chapter 304 for specified types of insurance and coverage, including accident, credit, dental, vision, disability income, long-term care, Medicare supplement, and other limited health benefit plans, unless another statute expressly applies Subtitle 17A to them.
Licensing, solvency and market conduct
What it requires: Insurers providing motor vehicle coverage must electronically submit vehicle identification numbers and policyholder names to the Department of Vehicle Regulation's accessible online insurance verification system beginning January 1, 2027. County clerks must verify insurance status through this system before processing vehicle registrations and titles. The Department of Vehicle Regulation must establish and operate this system by October 1, 2026.
Auto insurance, Licensing, solvency and market conduct
What it requires: Persons must not commit fraudulent insurance acts, including knowingly presenting false statements in insurance claims or applications, issuing counterfeit insurance documents, or assisting others in committing such acts. Insurers, agents, and unauthorized insurers must not engage in fraud affecting claimants.
Licensing, solvency and market conduct
- HB 233AN ACT relating to the prevention of harmful practices associated with property and casualty insurance.Enacted 15 March 2025
What it requires: Contractors must not require advance payments under real estate goods or services contracts until the five business day cancellation period expires after an insured receives written notice that a claim is not covered. Contractors must tender payments and deposits within ten days of cancellation. Contractors must not misrepresent claims, cause damage to increase scope, offer deductible rebates, or pay compensation exceeding one hundred dollars to insureds.
Property, catastrophe and climate risk, Licensing, solvency and market conduct
- SB 18AN ACT relating to insurance requirements for certain vehicle business licensees.Enacted 15 March 2025
What it requires: Motor vehicle dealers, new recreational vehicle dealers, motor vehicle auction dealers, and wholesalers must maintain an approved indemnifying bond or insurance policy on file with the commission before issuance or renewal of their license. The bond or policy must provide specified liability coverage amounts and remain in continuous force until properly canceled with fifteen days' notice to the commission.
Licensing, solvency and market conduct
Insurance in Kentucky, by topic
Health coverage and plan regulation
69 bills, 9 enacted. Enacted in 47 states.
Licensing, solvency and market conduct
23 bills, 12 enacted. Enacted in 47 states.
Workers' compensation, surety and specialty lines
18 bills, 4 enacted. Enacted in 45 states.
Property, catastrophe and climate risk
7 bills, 3 enacted. Enacted in 31 states.
Auto insurance
5 bills, 3 enacted. Enacted in 29 states.
Life insurance and annuities
1 bill, 1 enacted. Enacted in 24 states.
Insurance bills in Kentucky
The bills not yet law, furthest along first, with what each would do.
25Enacted
9Past committee
75Introduced or inactive
109 bills in scope
Past committee
9
What it would do: Allows public and private entities to voluntarily contribute funds to portable benefit plans for self-employed workers and prohibits using such contributions as a factor in determining employment classification.
What it would do: Creates a new regulatory framework for credit personal property insurance in Kentucky, establishing requirements for policy issuance, disclosure, premium calculation, claims handling, and filing with the commissioner, while exempting certain transactions and insurance types.
What it would do: Amends fiduciary bond requirements by prohibiting District Courts from accepting certain officials as sureties on personal representative bonds, including masters, commissioners, judges, clerks, and practicing attorneys of that court.
What it would do: Requires Kentucky insurers to offer prior authorization exemption programs for health care providers meeting specified performance standards, and requires annual reporting to the legislature on prior authorization practices by insurers and Medicaid, effective January 1, 2027.
What it would do: Requires hospitals, birthing centers, and midwives to provide or refer perinatal palliative care for pregnancies with life-limiting diagnoses. Mandates health insurance coverage for perinatal palliative care services effective January 1, 2026.
What it would do: Requires health benefit plans to cover hearing aids and cochlear implants without cost sharing for children and adults with severe to profound hearing loss, with minimum coverage amounts established by the insurance commissioner, and applies these requirements to Medicaid, KCHIP, state employee plans, and postsecondary institution plans effective January 1, 2026.
What it would do: Requires all health benefit plans to cover at least two epinephrine devices with cost sharing not exceeding $100 annually, and applies this requirement to Medicaid, KCHIP, state employee health plans, and postsecondary institution health plans effective January 1, 2026.
What it would do: Amends Kentucky's basic and added reparation benefits law to define key terms, establish a $10,000 maximum for basic reparation benefits per person per accident, set payment timelines of 30 days, and cap medical expense charges at workers' compensation fee schedules.
What it would do: Authorizes the Department for Medicaid Services to administer Kentucky's Medicaid program under fee-for-service, managed care, or other federal-permitted models, and limits Medicaid managed care contracts to no more than three organizations on or after January 1, 2026.
Introduced or inactive
16 of 75 shown
What it would do: Amends workers' compensation law to require the commissioner to establish an email notification system for workers' compensation coverage cancellations by July 1, 2026, and creates an online portal for employees to electronically submit notices of rejection or withdrawal of rejection to the Department of Workers' Claims.
What it would do: Amends Kentucky insurance tax law to exempt premiums received on large group health insurance policies newly offered in the large group market on or after January 1, 2027 from local government license fees or taxes.
What it would do: Amends KRS 454.185 to require sureties on bonds to be Kentucky residents worth double the secured sum beyond their debts and have property liable to execution equal to the secured amount, with multiple sureties meeting these qualifications in aggregate.
What it would do: Requires health benefit plans to cover all colorectal cancer examinations and laboratory tests for individuals 45 years or older or those under 45 at high risk, without prior authorization or cost-sharing, except when required to maintain Health Savings Account-qualified High Deductible Health Plan status.
What it would do: Requires all health benefit plans to cover prosthetic and orthotic devices that are medically necessary for daily living, job activities, hygiene, or physical activities, including up to three devices per affected limb per three-year period, with all materials, repairs, and replacements, effective January 1, 2027.
What it would do: Establishes a right to directed and autologous blood donations complying with FDA standards, prohibits entities from denying or obstructing such donations, caps surcharges at 20%, requires health benefit plans to cover directed and autologous transfusions without cost-sharing, and creates penalties for violations.
What it would do: Requires health benefit plans to reimburse telehealth services at rates equivalent to in-person services, prohibits prior authorization requirements and other restrictions on telehealth coverage, and applies these requirements to state postsecondary education institution self-insured health plans.
What it would do: Prohibits health insurers from modifying participating providers' reimbursement or payment terms through manuals or policy updates without written amendment signed by both parties. Requires 90 days' notice for material changes, with specific procedures for network changes requiring provider acceptance and other changes allowing 30-day objection periods.
What it would do: Establishes a Kentucky all-payer claims database to collect health care claims data from Medicare, Medicaid, insurers, and other health payers for research, quality improvement, and health planning. Creates the Office of Data Analytics to develop and operate the database, establishes an advisory council, and authorizes the insurance commissioner to enforce reporting requirements with civil penalties up to $1,000 per day.
What it would do: Requires insurers and health plans to base step therapy protocols on rigorous clinical practice guidelines with conflict-of-interest management, provide accessible exception processes, and grant exceptions within 48 hours if specified clinical criteria are met.
What it would do: Directs the Department of Employee Insurance to study and report to the Legislative Research Commission by December 1, 2027 on Kentucky Employees' Health Plan data, trends, costs, and governance, and compare it to other states' employee health plans.
What it would do: Amends Kentucky law governing limited health service benefit plans to define covered services, prohibit providers from charging more for noncovered services than their standard rate, require reasonable reimbursement, and void any contractual waivers of these requirements.
What it would do: Prohibits health care providers employed by state or local government from providing gender transition services and prohibits state and local government funds, Medicaid, KCHIP, and publicly funded Medicare supplement plans from covering such services. Requires licensing authorities to revoke credentials of providers who violate these prohibitions.
What it would do: Requires health plans to provide coverage for an annual standalone mental health wellness examination performed by a mental health professional, with no copayments, coinsurance, deductibles, or cost-sharing, effective January 1, 2027.
What it would do: Requires health plans to immediately place generic drugs and biosimilars with lower wholesale acquisition costs than their reference drugs on formularies with more favorable cost-sharing and without prior authorization or step therapy restrictions.
What it would do: Requires health benefit plans to provide mental health coverage on terms no more restrictive than physical health coverage, with combined deductibles and out-of-pocket limits. Establishes reporting requirements, complaint hotlines, and enforcement mechanisms for insurers, effective January 1, 2027.
Showing the 25 furthest along of 84. Subscribers see all of them, filtered and searchable. Bill titles link to the Kentucky Legislature's own page.
What counts as insurance legislation
In scope: Health coverage and plan regulation; auto; property and catastrophe; life and annuities; aI and data in underwriting; workers' compensation and specialty lines; and licensing, solvency and market conduct.
Questions
Does Kentucky have an insurance law?
Yes. Kentucky enacted 25 insurance laws in the 2025 and 2026 sessions, among them HB 627, HB 169 and HB 176. Each is listed on this page with what it requires.
When do Kentucky's insurance laws take effect?
SB 97 on 1 January 2027, HB 164 on 1 January 2027 and SB 158 on 1 January 2027. The others have no single date in their text.
Which insurance bills are moving in Kentucky?
9 bills not yet law have passed a committee or a chamber, the furthest along HB 732 (passed chamber), SB 118 (passed chamber) and HB 143 (passed chamber).
What does Kentucky legislate on most in insurance?
Health coverage and plan regulation (69 bills), Licensing, solvency and market conduct (23 bills) and Workers' compensation, surety and specialty lines (18 bills).
Are these summaries reviewed by a lawyer?
No. Which bills count as Insurance bills, and the line on what each law requires or each bill would do, are drafted by software from the bill's own text and not reviewed by an attorney. Every bill links to the legislature's own record: read the text before relying on it. The list covers bills from the 2025 and 2026 sessions.
Other practice areas in Kentucky
- AI in Kentucky18
- Alcohol in Kentucky20
- Cannabis in Kentucky26
- Children's Online Safety in Kentucky5
- Cybersecurity in Kentucky2
- Data center and energy in Kentucky7
- Data Privacy in Kentucky18
- Employment in Kentucky120
- Healthcare in Kentucky178
- Intellectual Property in Kentucky8
- Packaging and PFAS in Kentucky4
- Payments and fintech in Kentucky9
- Rental housing in Kentucky28
- Tobacco and nicotine in Kentucky12
- Transportation in Kentucky21
- All jurisdictions
Insurance legislation in other jurisdictions
52 more currently hold bills in this tracker
- New Jersey539
- New York481
- Texas314
- Massachusetts246
- Connecticut230
- Louisiana214
- Maryland208
- Missouri197
- Hawaii190
- Rhode Island188
- Mississippi187
- Florida185
- West Virginia175
- Illinois174
- Virginia158
- Montana155
- Oklahoma152
- Pennsylvania152
- California146
- Michigan137
- Iowa127
- Georgia112
- Tennessee99
- Indiana93
- Arizona91
- South Carolina86
- North Carolina80
- Minnesota78
- Oregon74
- Ohio70
- Utah70
- Arkansas68
- Washington67
- Kansas66
- Maine66
- New Hampshire63
- Nebraska60
- New Mexico59
- Colorado56
- Nevada54
- Congress48
- Wisconsin48
- Idaho47
- Alaska38
- Alabama32
- Delaware30
- North Dakota29
- Vermont29
- South Dakota21
- District of Columbia8
- Puerto Rico6
- Wyoming4
Know when Kentucky's insurance law changes
An alert when a bill moves, and one report a month on what changed in every state and Congress.