Consumers shopping for life insurance products share the same goal: protecting their family’s financial future. Whether they’re buying life insurance so their kids can complete their education or to ensure that their spouse won’t lose the family’s home, people are looking to life insurers for financial certainty for their loved ones.
America’s life insurers provide products and services that give 90 million American families peace of mind and financial security. It’s unlikely that many of those families know much about the robust laws and regulations that safeguard them.
Each state has an insurance commissioner who implements and enforces consumer protection laws and regulations. Together with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), the commissioners promote uniform standards so that every consumer of life insurance products throughout the nation is protected.
Life insurance is one of the most regulated financial products. Advertisements, disclosures and statements regarding coverage made by life insurance companies and agents are subject to laws and regulations backed by the broad regulatory authority of state insurance departments. With this framework in place, consumers can rest assured that there is a strong, coordinated, local regulatory structure that backs the promises made by life insurers.
Consumers also have broad protections after policies are purchased. For example, every state requires a “free look” period for life insurance policies. These give consumers time to review their purchase. If a consumer is unsatisfied, they can cancel the policy and get a refund. Free look periods are often 10 days, but in some states it can stretch to 30 days.
Very few grievances are filed about life insurance products and services. In fact, complaints represent far less than one percent of the 136 million individual life policies Americans owned in 2022. But when there is an issue, state insurance commissioners will work with consumers and companies to resolve the dispute.
Life insurance companies are committed to helping American families make certain they can care for themselves and their loved ones in good times and bad. Our customers have been safeguarded for generations by the state-based regulatory system and its strong consumer protections.
Jillian Froment is Executive Vice President and General Counsel at the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI). She is responsible for merging and optimizing general counsel and policy development into ACLI strategy that supports the life insurance industry, our members and the consumers and communities they serve.
