                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

DEFINITIONS (§ 38.2-100)

As used in this title:		&#8220;Alien company&#8221; means a company incorporated
or organized under the laws of any country other than the United
States.		&#8220;Bureau&#8221; or &#8220;Bureau of Insurance&#8221; means the
division of the Commission established to administer the insurance laws of the
Commonwealth.		&#8220;Commission&#8221; means the State Corporation
Commission.		&#8220;Commissioner&#8221; or &#8220;Commissioner of
Insurance&#8221; means the administrative or executive officer of the
Bureau.		&#8220;Company&#8221; means any association, aggregate of individuals,
business, corporation, individual, joint-stock company, Lloyds type of
organization, organization, partnership, receiver, reciprocal or interinsurance
exchange, trustee or society.		&#8220;Domestic company&#8221; means a company
incorporated or organized under the laws of the Commonwealth.		&#8220;Foreign
company&#8221; means a company incorporated or organized under the laws of the
United States, or of any state other than the Commonwealth.		&#8220;Health
services plan&#8221; means any arrangement for offering or administering health
services or similar or related services by a corporation licensed under Chapter
42 (§ 38.2-4200 et seq.).		&#8220;Insurance&#8221; means the business of
transferring risk by contract wherein a person, for a consideration, undertakes
(i) to indemnify another person, (ii) to pay or provide a specified or
ascertainable amount of money, or (iii) to provide a benefit or service upon the
occurrence of a determinable risk contingency. Without limiting the foregoing,
&#8220;insurance&#8221; shall include (i) each of the classifications of
insurance set forth in Article 2 (§ 38.2-101 et seq.) of this chapter and (ii)
the issuance of group and individual contracts, certificates, or evidences of
coverage by any health services plan as provided for in Chapter 42 (§ 38.2-4200
et seq.), health maintenance organization as provided for in Chapter 43 (§
38.2-4300 et seq.), legal services organization or legal services plan as
provided for in Chapter 44 (§ 38.2-4400 et seq.), dental or optometric services
plan as provided for in Chapter 45 (§ 38.2-4500 et seq.), and dental plan
organization as provided for in Chapter 61 (§ 38.2-6100 et seq.).
&#8220;Insurance&#8221; shall not include any activity involving a home service
contract that is subject to regulation pursuant to Chapter 33.1 (§ 59.1-434.1
et seq.) of Title 59.1; an extended service contract that is subject to
regulation pursuant to Chapter 34 (§ 59.1-435 et seq.) of Title 59.1; a
warranty made by a manufacturer, seller, lessor, or builder of a product or
service; or a service agreement offered by an automobile club as defined in
subsection E of § 38.2-514.1.		&#8220;Insurance company&#8221; means any
company engaged in the business of making contracts of
insurance.		&#8220;Insurance transaction,&#8221; &#8220;insurance
business,&#8221; and &#8220;business of insurance&#8221; include solicitation,
negotiations preliminary to execution, execution of an insurance contract, and
the transaction of matters subsequent to execution of the contract and arising
out of it.		&#8220;Insurer&#8221; means an insurance
company.		&#8220;Medicare&#8221; means the &#8220;Health Insurance for the Aged
Act,&#8221; Title XVIII of the Social Security Amendment of 1965, as
amended.		&#8220;Person&#8221; means any association, aggregate of individuals,
business, company, corporation, individual, joint-stock company, Lloyds type of
organization, organization, partnership, receiver, reciprocal or interinsurance
exchange, trustee or society.		&#8220;Rate&#8221; or &#8220;rates&#8221; means
any rate of premium, policy fee, membership fee or any other charge made by an
insurer for or in connection with a contract or policy of insurance. The terms
&#8220;rate&#8221; or &#8220;rates&#8221; shall not include a membership fee
paid to become a member of an organization or association, one of the benefits
of which is the purchasing of insurance coverage.		&#8220;Rate service
organization&#8221; means any organization or person, other than a joint
underwriting association under § 38.2-1915 or any employee of an insurer
including those insurers under common control or management, who assists
insurers in ratemaking or filing by:

a. Collecting, compiling, and furnishing loss or expense statistics;

b. Recommending, making or filing rates or supplementary rate information; or

c. Advising about rate questions, except as an attorney giving legal advice.
			&#8220;State&#8221; means any commonwealth, state, territory, district or
insular possession of the United States.			&#8220;Surplus to
policyholders&#8221; means the excess of total admitted assets over the
liabilities of an insurer, and shall be the sum of all capital and surplus
accounts, including any voluntary reserves, minus any impairment of all capital
and surplus accounts.			Without otherwise limiting the meaning of or defining
the following terms, &#8220;insurance contracts&#8221; or &#8220;insurance
policies&#8221; shall include contracts of fidelity, indemnity, guaranty and
suretyship.

HISTORY: Code 1950, §§ 38-1, 38-194, 38-253.20, 38-253.67; 1952, c. 317, §§
38.1-1, 38.1-219; 1973, c. 504, § 38.1-279.30; 1980, c. 204, § 38.1-362.12;
1986, c. 562; 2001, c. 707; 2004, c. 668; 2017, cc. 653, 727; 2020, c. 264.