NU Online News Service, Sept. 15, 2003, 5:48 p.m. EDT — Chicago
State insurance regulators have reviewed 1,600 life insurers throughout the United States for signs of race-based sales and pricing practices, according to Texas Insurance Commissioner Jose Montemayor.
Regulators have conducted the reviews by using surveys and scrutinizing annual statements, Montemayor said here at the fall meeting of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, Kansas City, Mo.
“We generally believe that we have identified the majority of the cases,” Montemayor said.
So far, regulators have found that about 25 companies and company groups have used race-based underwriting. The number of contracts affected by race-based underwriting at those companies ranges from a handful to thousands, Montemayor said.