The Maryland Insurance Administration published a bulletin to clarify its position on the permissible use of underwriting standards by insurers in deciding to cancel, non-renew, or refuse to underwrite a particular risk. 

The Administration's position is that an insurer cannot refuse to underwrite a risk or category of risk for which they have a filed rate. If their rating rule has a rate for a specific type of risk factor, they cannot refuse to underwrite that risk. If their rating rules do not provide a rate for a specific type of risk factor, then they can decline to underwrite that risk. 

If the rating rule includes categories for a rating factor and the risk is included in one of the categories, then the risk must be underwritten. For example, if there is a rating factor for a property's distance to the nearest fire hydrant with categories of less than 300 feet, 300 to 900 feet, and over 900 feet, a property that is 1,000 feet away from the nearest fire hydrant cannot be denied since it is included in the category. If there was no rating factor for the nearest fire hydrant, then an insurer could deny a policy for a property over 1,000 feet away from a fire hydrant based on their underwriting guidelines.