Wisconsin Insurance Commissioner Sean Dilweg has ordered a review of the state's disclosure guidelines regarding retained asset accounts.
Dilweg ordered the review in response to news reports indicating that some life insurers, including providers of life insurance coverage for military personnel, may be improperly profiting from the accounts.
Dilweg says his office will be exploring the possibility that Wisconsin may need new administrative rules to protect insurance policy beneficiaries.
"My main concern is that the beneficiary receives adequate information about all their available options during this time of crisis in their lives," Dilweg says in a statement. "With full disclosure about how retained asset accounts function, along with information about other claims settlement options available to them, consumers will be better served by the industry."
In another response to the reports, Keller Rohrback L.L.P, Seattle, a law firm that handles claims relating to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, says it is looking into the allegations. Keller Rohrback is asking retained asset account holders to contact its attorneys and paralegal.
"We are committed to helping individuals protect their savings and other benefits," the firm says. "Keller Rohrback has successfully provided class-action representation for over a decade. Its litigators have obtained judgments and settlements on behalf of clients in excess of seven billion dollars."
Rep. Deborah Halvorson, D-Ill., the stepmother of a soldier who was injured in Afghanistan, has introduced a bill, H.R. 5993, that would require providers of military life coverage to provide financial counseling and disclosure information to family members of fallen soldiers. The bill also would require the Veterans Affairs Department to report to Congress each year on how responsive insurers are beingto military families.
