Podcast Center
Video Center
Webcasts
Resource Center
Events
September 06, 2011 at 08:00 PM
WASHINGTON BUREAU — California has moved to keep life insurers from making retained asset accounts (RAAs) the default benefits payment mechanism.
Members of the California Senate have voted 36-0 to approve S.B. 599, a bill that would require life insurers to get a written declaration stating how the beneficiary wants to receive the benefit payment.
S.B. 599 already has won approval in the California Assembly. The bill now goes to Gov. Jerry Brown, D.
Current California law gives life insurers the ability to pay benefits solely through an RAA.
California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones, an S.B. 599 supporter, says one problem with the RAA payment mechanism is that an RAA is not necessarily a traditional bank account. If an RAA is not created in the form of a bank account, the account is not protected by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
