Montana medical care discount card supplier bonds.
From $1,000.
Before a company can market, promote, advertise, or distribute a medical or dental discount card in Montana, it must file $50,000 in financial responsibility with the Commissioner of Securities and Insurance, most often as a $50,000 surety bond under MCA 33-38-106. The premium starts at $1,000 for a term.
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How much does a Montana medical care discount card supplier bond cost?
From $1,000; the exact price shows at the application once you enter your bond amount.
Bonded before your 30-day clock starts.
Montana wants the bond and the registration on file at least 30 days before you market a single card. Here is the whole process:
Send us the file
Apply online with your business details, the owner and contact, years in business, and a few standard underwriting questions. The application includes a credit review; it sets your exact premium above the $1,000 starting price.
See your exact price
The one-year premium starts at $1,000 for the $50,000 bond. The application shows your exact price before you pay — most applicants land at or near that starting price. No obligation until you accept.
File with the Commissioner
Once you accept and pay, the executed bond is issued on the State of Montana Medical Care Discount Card Supplier Bond form, ready to attach to your certificate of registration application for the Commissioner of Securities and Insurance.
What it is and who needs it.
Financial responsibility for a card that is not insurance
Montana regulates medical care discount cards under Title 33, chapter 38 of the Montana Code — the discount card law the Commissioner of Securities and Insurance enforces. A medical care discount card is any card, account, or arrangement that is not insurance and that, for a fee, grants a discount or access to a discount on care from a health care provider. A supplier is anyone selling or furnishing those cards, as principal or agent. Discount medical plans, dental membership plans, and bundled health-savings memberships all fall in; a card that discounts prescriptions only does not, unless it is combined with another medical discount.
Under MCA 33-38-106, a supplier may not market, promote, advertise, or distribute a card in Montana until it has bought a bond or opened a surety account and filed it with the Commissioner. The choice is a $50,000 surety bond from a surety authorized in Montana, or a $50,000 surety account at a federally insured bank, savings and loan, or federal savings bank located in Montana. The bond keeps $50,000 of working capital free, which is why most suppliers take it.
The bond runs in favor of anyone injured by a violation of the discount card law, and of the Commissioner on their behalf. It also covers fines levied against the supplier or its enrollers for violations while the bond is in force. The law those claims turn on includes a bar on misleading discount claims or insurance-like language, a “not insurance” disclosure in at least 14-point type on every advertisement, a provider list, and a 30-day cancellation and refund right for every cardholder.
The bond sits beside a certificate of registration under MCA 33-38-105: a $100 application fee, annual renewal by December 31, and a civil penalty of $5,000 to $25,000 per violation, with each day a separate violation, for selling unregistered. The Commissioner’s application lists meeting 33-38-106 as a condition of registration and includes the state’s bond form. You file annual proof the bond is renewed, with a $250 filing fee each time, and keep it in force until two years after you stop operating in Montana.
It is not insurance for you. If the surety pays a cardholder’s claim or a fine, you repay the surety. We underwrite the supplier, not the plan — a short application, a soft credit pull, and a quote from a specialist.
You need this bond if you are
Claims, renewal, filing, and what sets the price.
If a claim is made
A claim comes from the party the bond protects, the obligee named on the form, when the duty the bond guarantees is not met.
The surety investigates and pays a valid claim, up to the $50,000 bond amount. You then repay the surety: a surety bond is a guarantee of your performance, not insurance for you.
Renewal and term
The term is set on the carrier’s application; the premium covers the period shown there.
Renew before the expiry date to keep the bond in force: the license, permit or contract it backs expects continuous coverage.
How to file it
File with the Commissioner. Once you accept and pay, the executed bond is issued on the State of Montana Medical Care Discount Card Supplier Bond form, ready to attach to your certificate of registration application for the Commissioner of Securities and Insurance.
What sets the price
From $1,000; your exact price appears at the application once you enter the amount.
One soft credit pull, never a hard inquiry, and it never affects your score.
Where a check runs, it decides approval; the rate is the same for everyone approved.
One application, one soft pull.
These are the actual fields: your business details, the owner and contact, years in business, and a handful of standard underwriting questions. The application includes a credit review; the one-year premium starts at $1,000 and your exact price appears there before you pay. Free until issued.
Start the application →Common questions.
Other Montana bonds.
Been told you need a different amount?
Price and requirements checked on the carrier’s application, . Page updated .
Get bonded before you market your first card.
Send us a short application and see your exact price — the one-year premium for your $50,000 Montana medical care discount card supplier bond starts at $1,000, written on the Commissioner’s bond form. Free until issued.