Commissioner Jones urges other insurers to follow suit for consumers’ benefit
November 2014 - SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones has announced a $3.2 million multistate market conduct examination settlement agreement has been reached with Sun Life Insurance Company. As part of the settlement, Sun Life has agreed to a number of business practice reforms concerning its use of the Social Security Death Master File database. Sun Life joins 13 other life insurers that agreed to reform business practices to use the Death Master File database to search for deceased policyholders and make benefit payments.
“Sun Life has stepped forward and done the right thing for consumers by agreeing to make needed changes to ensure the proper use of the Death Master database,” said Commissioner Jones. “I urge other life insurers to follow this example by using the Death Master database to identify deceased policyholders and pay benefits to beneficiaries when they are owed.”
Sun Life will now compare all company records against the Death Master File to determine whether there are unclaimed death benefits and has agreed to conduct a thorough search for beneficiaries to whom unclaimed benefits may be owed. Sun Life also agreed to make a payment which will be disbursed among the states who participated in the examination. California will receive $325,000 for the General Fund, as well as $150,000 for the state Insurance Fund.
California, Florida and a handful of other states are leading a national investigation of life insurers to ensure life insurance companies are complying with the Unfair Claims Settlement Practices Act. Florida was the lead state on this examination.
The Death Master File, created by the Social Security Administration, provides insurers with the names of people in the United States who are deceased and have social security numbers. With this information, an insurer can identify deceased policyholders and pay out benefits; however, in some cases the Death Master File is only being used by insurers for purposes that only benefit the insurers, such as identifying deceased annuitants and cutting off annuity payments. The California Department of Insurance and its other state partners are working with life insurers to reform business practices in regards to the use of the Death Master File.
California Insurance Commissioner Announces Sun Life Insurance Company Agrees to Change its Use of the Death Master File
- Details
