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SACRAMENTO – In the midst of the holiday season, Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones is asking insurers to help California wildfire survivors who are overwhelmed with the task of navigating the claims process.
He’s requested insurers provide relief from detailed home inventories and follow the lead of other insurers providing up to 100 percent of contents (personal property) coverage limits without a detailed inventory.
"These families have endured unimaginable loss and pain," said Jones. "I'm asking insurers to ease their burden by providing up to 100 percent payment for contents coverage without the onerous requirement of a detailed home inventory, so they may get on with rebuilding their lives."
The notice, issued on Thursday to insurers, comes after the department held a claims workshop in Santa Rosa on Dec. 9 and heard from several hundred policyholders that they were burdened with insurer requirements for detailed home inventories in order to receive payment for personal property coverage.
The notice, does point out that the department is aware and applauds the efforts of some insurers that have gone above and beyond the Voluntary Expedited Claims Handling Procedures and have made significant efforts to accommodate insured by offering, in some cases, up to 100 percent contents limits payment without an inventory.
While Jones applauds these efforts to put insured first, he is requesting all other insurers follow suit by providing similar accommodations and is asking insurers to notify the department by Jan. 8 whether they will comply.
Those insurers offering an amount less than 100 percent should allow policyholders the ability to recover additional benefits, if the policyholder subsequently completes a full inventory.
The department advises policyholders already working with a claims adjuster to develop a settlement plan that best serves their needs, which may include taking the time to complete a home inventory.
He’s requested insurers provide relief from detailed home inventories and follow the lead of other insurers providing up to 100 percent of contents (personal property) coverage limits without a detailed inventory.
"These families have endured unimaginable loss and pain," said Jones. "I'm asking insurers to ease their burden by providing up to 100 percent payment for contents coverage without the onerous requirement of a detailed home inventory, so they may get on with rebuilding their lives."
The notice, issued on Thursday to insurers, comes after the department held a claims workshop in Santa Rosa on Dec. 9 and heard from several hundred policyholders that they were burdened with insurer requirements for detailed home inventories in order to receive payment for personal property coverage.
The notice, does point out that the department is aware and applauds the efforts of some insurers that have gone above and beyond the Voluntary Expedited Claims Handling Procedures and have made significant efforts to accommodate insured by offering, in some cases, up to 100 percent contents limits payment without an inventory.
While Jones applauds these efforts to put insured first, he is requesting all other insurers follow suit by providing similar accommodations and is asking insurers to notify the department by Jan. 8 whether they will comply.
Those insurers offering an amount less than 100 percent should allow policyholders the ability to recover additional benefits, if the policyholder subsequently completes a full inventory.
The department advises policyholders already working with a claims adjuster to develop a settlement plan that best serves their needs, which may include taking the time to complete a home inventory.
- Details
- Written by: Editor
SACRAMENTO – California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones on Wednesday announced two multistate settlement agreements with State Farm and Aflac, as both agreed to use the Social Security Death Master File database to identify life insurance policyholders who have died and to also search for and pay benefits to their beneficiaries.
State Farm agreed to a settlement of $250,000 and Aflac agreed to a settlement of $350,000.
"State Farm and Aflac have stepped up and done the right thing for policyholders," said Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones. "I urge other life insurers to follow the lead of the 30 other companies that have agreed to change their practices to benefit their policyholders and to use the Death Master File database to search for life insurance policyholders."
Insurance Commissioners for California, North Dakota, Florida, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania have led the national investigation into life insurers' use of the Social Security Administration's Death Master File database, which came about after it was discovered life insurers used the database to their benefit to identify deceased annuity holders so they could stop making payments to them, but failed to use the database to identify deceased policyholders so that benefit could be paid to their beneficiaries.
The practice violated California's Unfair Insurance Practices Act and similar laws in other states.
To date, state insurance regulators have either reached settlements or concluded the investigation of 30 of the top 40 companies, constituting 80 percent of the total life insurance market, based on market share.
As a result life insurers have paid more than $8.7 billion to life insurance beneficiaries nationwide and more than $890 million to California beneficiaries, alone.
To amplify efforts to match beneficiaries with life insurance policies, the California Department of Insurance and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, or NAIC, launched the Life Insurance Policy Locator which has matched 583 beneficiaries in California with lost or misplaced life insurance policies or annuities-totaling over $11 million returned to consumers.
The NAIC reported 8,210 beneficiaries nationwide have been matched with $92.5 million since the tool's launch last November.
The Life Insurance Policy Locator can be found at https://eapps.naic.org/life-policy-locator/#/welcome.
State Farm agreed to a settlement of $250,000 and Aflac agreed to a settlement of $350,000.
"State Farm and Aflac have stepped up and done the right thing for policyholders," said Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones. "I urge other life insurers to follow the lead of the 30 other companies that have agreed to change their practices to benefit their policyholders and to use the Death Master File database to search for life insurance policyholders."
Insurance Commissioners for California, North Dakota, Florida, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania have led the national investigation into life insurers' use of the Social Security Administration's Death Master File database, which came about after it was discovered life insurers used the database to their benefit to identify deceased annuity holders so they could stop making payments to them, but failed to use the database to identify deceased policyholders so that benefit could be paid to their beneficiaries.
The practice violated California's Unfair Insurance Practices Act and similar laws in other states.
To date, state insurance regulators have either reached settlements or concluded the investigation of 30 of the top 40 companies, constituting 80 percent of the total life insurance market, based on market share.
As a result life insurers have paid more than $8.7 billion to life insurance beneficiaries nationwide and more than $890 million to California beneficiaries, alone.
To amplify efforts to match beneficiaries with life insurance policies, the California Department of Insurance and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, or NAIC, launched the Life Insurance Policy Locator which has matched 583 beneficiaries in California with lost or misplaced life insurance policies or annuities-totaling over $11 million returned to consumers.
The NAIC reported 8,210 beneficiaries nationwide have been matched with $92.5 million since the tool's launch last November.
The Life Insurance Policy Locator can be found at https://eapps.naic.org/life-policy-locator/#/welcome.
- Details
- Written by: Editor
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