State Insurance Department or Commission

Every state in the nation has an insurance commissioner. They normally report directly to the governor of the state just like the attorney general of each state reports to the governor of that state. The NAIC is an association of all the state insurance commissioners. The NAIC spends a lot of time drafting and holding hearings on new model laws and regulations for the insurance industry. This work of the NAIC has a gone a long way toward providing some degree of uniformity between the insurance laws and regulations of the various states. Their work has also acted as an impetus for the implementation of laws and regulations when a new area of significant need arises. Recently that area of need has been the sales methods of agents.
Insurance agents must obtain a license from each state (through the insurance commissioner’s office) in which they are soliciting business. If an agent is not a resident in a state in which he wishes to sell insurance products, the agent may ordinarily obtain a nonresident license from that state. You can check on the licensing (or disciplinary) status of your agent by simply contacting the insurance commissioner’s office of your state. Agents who sell variable life insurance products or other investment-related products must also obtain a license from the

Relationship between agent and insurance company

The law of agency, a separate and distinct area of the law, applies to the relationship between the insurance agent and the insurance company. A basic rule of agency law is that the principal is liable for the acts of its agents done within the scope of their agency authority. It is not to the life, health or disability income insurance company’s benefit to have agents who are acting inappropriately or illegally while they are representing the insurance company. Lawsuits against the agent invariably include the insurance company as a co-defendant for two reasons--because of the principal/agent relationship and also because the insurance company usually has deeper pockets than the agent.

Why is agency law important to policyholders? Because, unlike property and casualty insurance (homeowners and auto), the agent who sells life, health and disability income insurance is almost always regarded as the legal agent of the insurance company. Therefore, as a general rule, any wrongdoing by the agent, such as incorrectly completing your application for life, health or disability insurance, will legally be regarded as wrongdoing by the insurance company. In laymen’s terms, the insurance company of a life, health or disability income insurance agent is responsible for the acts of its agents while they are selling insurance to you. (Of course, if you are conspiring with the agent to cheat the company, that’s a different story.)

American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI)

The conduct of insurance agents has come under closer scrutiny in recent years as a result of the initiation of numerous class action law suits alleging inappropriate and inaccurate sales presentations by insurance agents. In response to this, organizations such as the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI) and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) have proposed model regulations, market conduct principles and use of databases to improve agent practices.
The ACLI is an association of life insurance companies through which the industry is attempting to police itself.

Captive v. independent agent

If an agent is licensed with only one company, he is referred to as a “captive agent”. And he can only sell the insurance products of that company. If he is licensed with many companies, he is referred to as an “independent agent” because he is not restricted to selling the products of only one company.
But every agent can only sell the products of companies for which he is licensed to sell. This is important for you to know because an independent agent who can sell for many companies, if he is conscientious, has a better likelihood of selling you the best product to meet your insurance needs because he has more products from which to choose. In order to make the sale (and earn the commission), a captive agent may try to convince you that his company’s product is the best for you when in fact there are better products for your situation in the marketplace.

The Life, Disability and Health Insurance Agent

There are many ways to define the term, “insurance agent”. Fundamentally, an insurance agent is a licensed individual who solicits sales for an insurance company, or a number of insurance companies. The agent is subject to the state licensing laws of every state in which he sells life, health and disability insurance.

Dental Insurance - Advice on choosing a policy

Dental insurance opens up a number of new medical options, and will ensure protection for the teeth of you and your family in case of dental treatment being required. Currently 50% of Americans do not have a good dental health care insurance plan in place, something which can cause inconveniences when dental health care is required. It's said by some that the pain of toothache can be worse than childbirth, and without a good dental health plan in place, you may be tempted to attempt to live with the pain for far longer than you would have if you'd been assured that the price of your dental care was taken care of. Neglecting your teeth in this manner will only make the problem worse, and so having a good dental health care insurance plan is only good sense. Growing children requiring braces or other such orthodontic devices may also come as a surprise to you and to your pockets, and being assured of discounted dental health care thanks to your and your family's dental health care insurance plan should be a load off your mind.

Some people fear that individual dental health insurance or dental insurance plans will be expensive, and in many cases these fears are unfounded, with companies such as MetLife and delta offering affordable dental insurance plans.
Dental insurance plans come in two basic types; Preferred Provider Organization and Dental Health Maintenance Organization. Each dental insurance plan has its own benefits and each is considered managed care.

A preferred provider organized dental health plan aims to provide people who have a dental health plan that involves preferred provider organized health care with a substantial discount to their dental health care. The holder of such a dental health care policy can visit any participating dental health service provider and receive a discount on their dental health care. In theory, this is mutually beneficial to both the client and the dental health care service provider. While the holder of the dental health care insurance policy receives discounted dental health care treatment, the dental health care provider will see a rise in their number of customers. Lower costs to the insurer will also result in lower premiums, a saving which is then passed on to the dental health care policy holder. If the customer chooses to receive dental health care from a health care service provider who is not a part of the participating provider organization, their insurance policy will, usually, still refund the cost of part of the procedure, but it will be a much lower amount than if the patient had received treatment from a dental health care professional who was a part of the participating provider organization.
Preferred provider organizations differ from dental health maintenance organizations in that, if you receive dental health care from someone who is not a member of the organization while on a dental health maintenance organization policy, you will not normally get any kind of discount to your treatment, not even a small amount like you would receive if you were on a preferred provider organizations policy.
When buying any kind of insurance, it's important to shop around and find an insurance policy which is suitable for the needs of you and your family. Dental health insurance is often a lot cheaper than many people believe it will be, and shopping around ensures that you will find the best deal available. Finding cheap dental health plans will serve you well in future, and although