1975 1203 /1204 - GOV (Senate) - Veterans Insurance Information Disclosure

  • 1975 1203 and 1204 - GOV (Senate) - Veterans Insurance Information Disclosure, Richard Stone (D-FL)  ---  [BonkNote]
  • (p36) - William H. Huff III (Iowa) - President of NAIC, Statement 
  • (p44) - NAIC - William H. HUFF III, NAIC President, Iowa Insurance Commissioner -  If the Society of Actuaries' research is accurate, and I assume that it is, the additional disclosures really didn't make much difference in the ranking of how these various ranked in cost I would have a feeling, and I've been in this for about years, and we've been very active in the complaint area, too, you have two problems with a complicated formula.
    1. If you turn them off, they're not going to buy anything. They aren't going to understand it....
    2. ....the other problem, the agent out In the field, and unless he's carrying a book around with him, I'm not sure that he could explain what all of this is either.
  • Richard STONE (D-FL):  In other words, your impression on a practical level is that the likelihood of the veteran or the consumer, in this it would be the veteran, would not necessarily be enhanced by the more complicated approach but very well be and would be enhanced as to relevance and as to relative cost by the NAIC model approach ?
  • Mr. HUFF:  We would hope so. I'm also the "blue sky" administrator in Iowa, and we know pretty much that if we don't get everything that should be disclosed In the first four pages it's not going to be read, and things that we really want disclosed we put on the front page and put it in big type.
  • Senator Stone: In other words, you're saying if it's in the fine print it's the same thing as not ever being disclosed?
  • Mr. Huff:  That's right.
  • Senator Stone: If It's too much fine print nobody reads it.
  • Documents
    • (p66)  "Report to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners Life Insurance Cost Comparisons (C3) Task Force", a report prepared by the American Life Insurance Association Subcommittee on Cost Comparisons, Research Project No. 8 
    • (p178) - "Consumers' reactions to life insurance policy cost comparison methods," by the Life Insurance: Marketing and Research Association, Research Project 4
    • (p255) - Statement of Joseph Belth
      • (p269)- AP - Deceptive Sales Practices in the Life Insurance Business, Joseph M. Belth, The Journal of Risk and Insurance, Vol. 41, No. 2 (Jun., 1974), pp. 305-326 (22p), Published By: American Risk and Insurance Association (ARIA)
    • (p959) - The "Manipulation" issue; research project 12 (Jan. 28, 1975), by E. J. Moorhead, F.S.A
    • Analysis of life insurance cost comparison index methods (Sept. 1974).
    • Life insurance consumers, publications entitled: What do consumers know about life insurance, including their own and what do consumers want to know at the point of sale?
    • An exploratory study of attitudes and expectations regarding cost comparison.
    • A National survey of cost comparison attitudes and experience 
  • (p43) - Dan Andersen*  ....so we developed a buyer's guide concept where we want to explain how you use the index.
    • Well, if you explain how to use the index, you ought to explain what the policy is and what choices a buyer has,
    • ... and we became convinced that the worst decisions that were made weren't necessary because the buyer bought a high cost policy but that he bought an inappropriate policy for his needs and for his budget.
  • Senator Stone (D-FL).  In other words, what we're looking for is not relative cost so much as relevance.
  • Dan Andersen.  Right, relevance to the buyer's needs and abilities to pay.

--  *Dan Andersen, director of the Life and Health Insurance Division and chief actuary of the Iowa Insurance Department and chairman of the Cost Disclosure Task Force of the NAIC