Michigan Compiled Laws

Mich. Comp. Laws § 500.116 (2026)

Additional definitions.

✓ current as of July 2026

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THE INSURANCE CODE OF 1956

Act 218 of 1956

500.116 Additional definitions.

Sec. 116.

As used in this act:

(a) "Enrollee" means an individual who is entitled to receive health services under a health insurance contract, unless the context requires otherwise.

(b) "Hazardous to policyholders, creditors, and the public" means that an insurer, with respect to the financial condition of its business, is not safe, reliable, and entitled to public confidence.

(c) "In the reasonable exercise of discretion" means that an order, decision, determination, finding, ruling, opinion, action, or inaction was based upon facts reasonably found to exist and was not inconsistent with generally acceptable standards and practices of those knowledgeable in the field in question.

(d) "Insurance policy" or "insurance contract" means a contract of insurance, indemnity, suretyship, or annuity issued or proposed or intended for issuance by a person engaged in the business of insurance. Unless the context requires otherwise, insurance contract includes a health maintenance contract, as that term is defined in section 3501.

(e) "Insurance producer" means that term as defined in section 1201.

(f) "Large employer" means an employer that is not a small employer as defined in section 3701.

(g) "Participating provider" means a provider that, under contract with an insurer that issues policies of health insurance or with such an insurer's contractor or subcontractor, has agreed to provide health care services to covered individuals and to accept payment by the insurer, contractor, or subcontractor for covered services as payment in full, other than coinsurance, copayments, or deductibles.

(h) "Safe, reliable, and entitled to public confidence" means that an insurer meets all of the following:

(i) With respect to its financial standards and conduct and discharge of its obligations to policyholders and creditors, has complied and continues to comply with the specific requirements of this act and, if relevant, the insurance codes or acts of its state of domicile and other states in which it is authorized to conduct an insurance business.

(ii) Has made and continues to make reasonable financial provisions and apply sound insurance principles so as to provide reasonable margins of financial safety with respect to the insurance and other obligations it has assumed and continues to assume such that the insurer will be able to discharge those obligations under any reasonable conditions and contingencies taking into account without limitation reasonably anticipated contingencies, including those affecting changes in the projections of liabilities, fluctuations in value of assets, alterations in projections as to when obligations may become due, and expected and unexpected new claims with respect to obligations.

(i) "Service area" means that term as defined in section 3501, unless the context requires otherwise.

(j) Except as used in chapters 24, 26, 72, 76, and 81, "subscriber" means an individual who enters into an insurance contract for health insurance, or on whose behalf an insurance contract for health insurance is entered into, with an insurer.

History: Add. 1992, Act 182, Imd. Eff. Oct. 1, 1992 ;-- Am. 2016, Act 276, Imd. Eff. July 1, 2016

PopularName Notes:

Act 218

PopularName Notes:

Essential Insurance

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 4 cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1998–2021 · leading case: Michigan Basic Prop. Ins. v. Off. of Fin. & Ins. Reg., 288 Mich. App. 552 (Mich. Ct. App. 2010).

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Michigan Basic Prop. Ins. v. Off. of Fin. & Ins. Reg., 288 Mich. App. 552 (Mich. Ct. App. 2010). · cites it 2× “” MCL 500.116(c). The commissioner or the commissioner’s representative “may examine any or all of the books, records, documents, and papers of any insurer at any time after its articles of incorporation have been executed and filed, or after it has been authorized to do…”

Nw. Nat'l Cas. Co. v. Comm'r of Ins., 586 N.W.2d 563 (Mich. Ct. App. 1998). “These include the definition of “[s]afe, reliable, and entitled to public confidence,” MCL 500.116(d); MSA 24.1116(d), and the extensive list of factors that the commissioner may use in determining whether an insurer meets that definition, MCL 500.”

People of Michigan v. Shunta Temar Small (Mich. Ct. App. 2016). “115 (providing general definitions for the act), MCL 500.116 (same), and MCL 500.4501 (providing definitions for Chapter 45, Insurance Fraud).”

Helgemo v. Int'l Union of Operating Engineers Local 324 (W.D. Mich. 2021). “§ 500.116(d). A self-funded pension plan or retirement benefit plan is not an insurance contract under this definition, nor are pension plans or retirement benefits referred to as a type of insurance anywhere else in Michigan’s Insurance Code.”

— Mich. Comp. Laws § 500.116(c) — 1 case

Michigan Basic Prop. Ins. v. Off. of Fin. & Ins. Reg., 288 Mich. App. 552 (Mich. Ct. App. 2010). “” MCL 500.116(c). The commissioner or the commissioner’s representative “may examine any or all of the books, records, documents, and papers of any insurer at any time after its articles of incorporation have been executed and filed, or after it has been authorized to do…”

— Mich. Comp. Laws § 500.116(d) — 2 cases

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