Maryland

  • Consumer Advisory – Universal Life Insurance - 2p
  • Paul SARBANES (D-MD).
    • 1971-1977 - US House
    • 1977- 2007 - US Senator
    • 2005 1117 - GOV (Senate) - A Review of the GAO Report on the Sale of Financial Products to Military Personnel, Richard Shelby (R-AL)  ---  [BonkNote]
      • (p21) - Paul SARBANES (D-MD). Is there not information from the companies, like internal memos and so forth, where they are relying in fact on these sales items not being carried through to get the benefit in the later years? It is all part of their calculation as to how to make a much larger profit out of what they are doing; is that not correct?
        • GAO - Cody J. Goebel. Yes, Senator, in our report we quote from some of the internal memos that were obtained through depositions in a previous court case, where one of the company officials was attempting to overcome objections within his own company as how can their firm could sell this and promise this high rate of return that is not feasible. And he told them: ‘‘No, no, do not worry about it, we won’t really ever have to pay that amount out, 40 percent will drop out in the first year.’’ And so the products, the way they were structured and designed seemed almost deceptive to us.
        • Chairman  Richard Shelby (R-AL) - I personally believe that companies that are doing business this way, as you describe, exploiting our soldiers, should be banned or something. You know, I do not know exactly how we are going to do it, but we are going to look seriously, Senator Sarbanes and I working with Senator Enzi and others, Senator Allard, on legislation. 
  • Birrane - (Maryland Insurance Commissioner) - 1976-1982
  • Edward J. Muhl - (Maryland Insurance Commissioner) -1982 to 1988 
  • Dwight K. Bartlett III - (Maryland Insurance Commissioner) - 1990s
  • Ralph S. Tyler - (Maryland Insurance Commissioner) -  - 2008 -
  • Kathleen A. Birrane - (Maryland Insurance Commissioner) - Current (as of 2022)
  • (p16) - Willis B. Howard, Jr., NOLHGA - National Organization of Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Associations:
    • I'd like to respond briefly to my honorable friend, Commissioner Bartlett.
    • Dwight, the guarantee association system works, and it works well.
  • Dwight K. Bartlett III, Maryland Insurance Commissioner:
    • Are you going to tell me, Bill, in all honesty that you really believe that the policyholders of Executive Life and Mutual Benefit Life have been well-served?
    • For example, with Mutual Benefit, if you opted out of that rehabilitation plan you get, as I recall, 55 cents on the dollar of your account value.
      • If you opt into the plan, you agreed to subject yourself to a moratorium period, which means you do not get full access to the cash values of your policy until the next century.
    • Are you going to say that's meaningful coverage for those policyholders?
    • ⇒  I think that's ridiculous.

1994 - SOA - Valuation Actuary - Symposium Proceedings - Session 1 - Introduction and Overview, Society of Actuaries - 110p

  • Commissioner Tyler recognized the general lack of consumer advocacy in the state of Maryland and said this is a weakness in the current system of policy development. (Ralph S. Tyler; (MD))

2008-4, NAIC Proceedings - 2008 1205 - NAIC/Consumer Liaison Committee

  • Commissioner Tyler said that because one consumer complaint often means that other consumers are also harmed by a particular practice, he would like to know the relationship between consumer complaints and proper market regulation.
  • He said market regulators should leverage consumer-complaint data to ensure that what happens to one consumer is not happening to others.

2009-3, NAIC Proceedings