S.C. Code Ann. § 38-79-120 – Association created; membership as a condition of authority to transact insurance; purpose; calling Association into operation

(1) A joint underwriting association (association) is created, consisting of all insurers authorized to write within this State, on a direct basis, bodily injury liability insurance, other than automobile bodily injury liability insurance, homeowners liability insurance, and farmowners liability insurance, including insurers covering such peril in multiple peril package policies. Every such insurer is and must remain a member of the association as a condition of its authority to continue to transact such kind of insurance in this State.
(2) The purpose of the association is to provide medical malpractice insurance on a self-supporting basis to the fullest extent possible.
(3) The association must be called into operation at any time that the department finds and declares the existence of an emergency because of the unavailability of medical malpractice liability insurance, or the unavailability of medical malpractice liability insurance on a reasonable basis through normal channels, in respect to all or any one or more of the major categories of licensed health care providers listed in item (2) of Section 38-79-110.