W. Va. Code § 33-24-5 (2026)
Licenses; name of corporation
§33-24-5. Licenses; name of corporation.
(a) No such corporation shall enter into any contract with a subscriber until it has obtained from the commissioner a license as provided in this section. Application for a license shall be made on forms to be prescribed and furnished by the commissioner.
(b) The application shall be accompanied by a copy of the following documents: (1) Certificate of incorporation; (2) bylaws; (3) contracts between the corporation and participating hospitals, physicians, dentists or other health agencies; (4) proposed contracts to be issued to subscribers, setting forth the hospital, medical or dental service to which subscribers are entitled, and the table of rates to be charged for such service; and (5) financial statement showing the amount of contributions paid, or agreed to be paid, to the corporation for working capital, the name or names of each contributor and the terms of each contribution.
(c) The commissioner shall, upon payment to him of a license fee of $200, issue a license authorizing the corporation to transact business in this state in the area to be served by it, if he is satisfied (1) that the applicant is incorporated in this state under the provisions of article one, chapter thirty-one of this code, as a bona fide nonprofit corporation, (2) that the contracts between the corporation and participating hospitals, physicians, dentists and other health agencies contain all the terms required by section seven of this article, (3) that the working capital available to the corporation will be sufficient to pay all operating expenses, other than payment for hospital, medical or dental services, for a reasonable period after the issuance of the license, and (4) that the proposed plan will serve the best interests of all of the people of the area in which the corporation intends to operate, regardless of their race, color or economic status. Any license so issued may be renewed annually upon payment to the commissioner of a renewal fee of $200.
(d) The term of such license, renewal, refusal to license, revocation, suspension or penalty in lieu thereof shall be governed by the provisions of sections eight, nine, ten and eleven, article three of this chapter, in the same manner that these sections are applicable to insurers generally.
(e) No such corporation shall include in its name the words "insurance," "casualty," "surety," "health and accident," "accident and sickness," "mutual," or any other words descriptive of the insurance business; nor shall its name be so similar to that of any insurer which was licensed to transact insurance in this state when such corporation was formed, as to tend, in the opinion of the commissioner, to confuse the public.