In each State a life insurance commissioner, who has the primary
responsibility of protecting insurance consumers, is charged with
the administration & enforcement of that State's life insurance laws.
In the State of California the job of the Insurance Commissioner is
described in Sections 12900-12906 of the CALIFORNIA INSUR-
ANCE CODE. The California Insurance Commissioner is elected to
a four year term & cannot serve as Insurance Commissioner for more
than two terms. Section 12905 requires the Insurance Commissioner
to maintain offices in San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles, and
San Diego.
For information about life insurance regulation in other states you can
access a MAP OF INSURANCE REGULATORS that will give you ac-
cess to insurance commissioners across the United States.
Life Insurance consumer information & protection resources available
to internet users include, but are not limited to:
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MIB, Inc. - MIB is the life insurance industry's clearinghouse for infor-
mation about insurance applicants. If you apply for an insurance policy,
part of the underwriting process will more likely than not include having
an MIB report run on you by a life insurance company from whom you
are applying for coverage.
If you receive a derogatory MIB report you may have to pay a higher life
insurance premium or be denied life insurance coverage.
MIB reports contain extremely confidential information about your health
and/or any medical conditions or other factors that can limit your ability to
qualify for life insurance.
You can learn more about MIB's practices & policies by going to their con-
sumer fact sheet at:
http://www.mib.com/fact.htm
You can arrange to find out if MIB has a report on you, what that report says
about you, and how you can correct any erroneous information in your MIB
report by going to:
http://www.mib.com/fileyou.htm
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U.S. GOVERNMENT CONSUMER INFORMATION CENTER - log in & order
some great catalogs at low prices from Uncle Sam. If you access this site instead of
clicking on the "Hot Link" contained in this sentence, choose the "Money" section,
scroll down to the "Financial Planning" area and access the FREE online document
titled:
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT BUYING LIFE INSURANCE-text
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LIFE INSURANCE TIPS, TRAPS, & SUGGESTIONS - this site contains some
valuable dos and don'ts for prospective life insurance purchasers.
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INSURANCE ASSOCIATIONS - addresses, phone and fax numbers for all sorts
of insurance related associations throughout the United States.
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CALIFORNIA LAW PAGE - Like law? Well, here are all of the California Codes;
Penal Code, Civil Code, Corporations Code, Business & Professions Code, etc.
This page includes a search engine for finding specific topics.
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U.S. POSTAL SERVICE/PERSONAL FINANCE RELATED SCHEMES - this is
an interesting web site that provides information to consumers about investment
fraud schemes perpetrated through the mail. For scam artists the message is, use
the mail go to jail.
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NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF INSURANCE COMMISSIONERS (NAIC)
HOME PAGE - here's the Home Page for insurance regulators from the 50 states,
the District of Columbia, and the four U.S. territories.
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CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF INSURANCE - The mission statement of
the Department of Insurance by former Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush:
"Our mission is to ensure that consumers are protected against excessive or discrim-
inatory insurance rates and against insurer financial instability; that the laws are en-
forced with equal diligence; that all customers are served in the most efficient, respon-
sive manner and that the regulatory process is open, fair, and equitable."