NCOIL To Study Term-Only License

The National Conference of Insurance Legislators today sidestepped the controversy about the proposed “term life only” agent license.[@@]

Members of NCOIL, Troy, N.Y., voted here at the group’s summer meeting to address the matter by looking at solutions for improving service to the underinsured life insurance market.

Some companies, including the Primerica unit at Citigroup Inc., New York, say creating a special license for agents who sell only term life insurance would improve service to middle-income and low-income consumers. Term-only proposal supporters say those middle-income and low-income consumers are of little interest to traditional life insurers. Proposal supporters say traditional life insurers now focus on selling to wealthy individuals.

When the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, Kansas City, Mo., held its spring meeting, one subcommittee blocked an effort to get the NAIC to endorse the term-only proposal, but the NAIC’s Life Insurance Committee revived the term-only endorsement measure.