Death Master Report

As a result of state insurance regulator settlements, life and annuity insurers have paid over $9.7 billion to life insurance beneficiaries nationwide . These insurers have paid more than $1 billion to California beneficiaries, alone. Also, these insurers have escheated approximately $33 million in unclaimed benefits to state unclaimed property officials. Finally, to amplify efforts to match beneficiaries with life insurance policies, the California Department of Insurance and other states, in cooperation with National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ (NAIC), launched the Life Insurance Policy Locator. This service has matched consumers with policies totaling $17,332,464 just in the past 12 months, and $33,863,187 since the 2016 launch. In its initial two years, the locator has matched 24,934 consumers with policies across the U.S., totaling $368 million. More than 48,000 consumers have conducted searches nationwide in that time. During its first year, the policy locator initially found $92.5 million in lost benefits for consumers. As more matches were made to requests from that year, the first-year total has increased to $166.7 million. Conclusion The Insurance Commissioners multi-state Death Master File investigation is one of the most successful examples of regulatory action taken by insurance commissioners to protect consumers. A priority from the very beginning of his tenure as California’s Insurance Commissioner, Commissioner Jones was one of the five leaders of this successful multi-state investigation. The Death Master File investigation and results demonstrates the important role that state insurance regulators can play in protecting consumers and the important leadership role of the California Insurance Commissioner working in concert with other state commissioners. 10 V. Results 2 3 4 Beneficiaries in Other States and Jurisdictions California Beneficiaries As reported through August 15, 2018, insurers have paid $9,747,477,905 to beneficiaries, nationwide. As reported through August 15, 2018, insurers have paid $1,043,349,537 to California beneficiaries. As reported through August 15, 2018 (This includes approximately $7 million paid to the California Controller.) $9.7 Billion in Unclaimed Benefits Paid to Beneficiaries As Reported Through August 15, 2018 $8,704,128,368 89% $1,043,349,537 11%