Michigan Department of Insurance
National Association of Insurance Commisioner’s
Life Insurance Rates News Release: 1/17/2005
Category: Life Insurance Rate Enforcement
Washington, DC – A federal judge today ruled in favor of the
National Association of Insurance Commisioners and its efforts to recoup more than $100 million for life insurance consumers nation wide, an amount which the agency contends that a select few insurance companies may have overcharged life insurance consumers by inflating
Michigan life insurance prices and
Michigan life insurance
quotes.
The federal judicial panel and courts actions allows the NAIC to help reduce
Michigan life insurance
rates. The objective of NAIC staff throughout this action has been to provide life insurance rate relief for life insurance consumer policyholders who have been charged excessive life insurance rates.
NAIC staff, using authority granted by the federal judicial panel’s decision, ordered life insurance companies to reduce its life owners rates by 12 percent in September 2004.
Michigan life insurance companies appealed the reduction in district court, claiming that the they had been denied due process in ordering the rate reduction.
“NAIC staff’s latest action, based on a different law was designed to address the court’s concerns regarding due process,” said NAIC’s Deputy Commissioner for Policy. “Despite the insurance companies objections, the courts have allowed the debate based on the facts to move forward. In the end we believe the facts will show that their rates can be reduced.”
NAIC staff contends that life insurance companies have been overcharging its policyholders since June 11, 2003, the effective date of Senate Bill 14. NAIC is seeking a refund of the excessive premium plus 10 percent interest. The total amount will be calculated from June 11, 2003, to present.
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Michigan Facts: French explorers, including Jacques Marquette, Louis Joliet, and Sieur de La Salle, followed, and the first permanent settlement were established in 1668 at Sault Ste. Marie. France was ousted from the territory by Great Britain in 1763, following the French and Indian Wars. After the Revolutionary War, the U.S. acquired most of the region, which remained the scene of constant conflict between the British and U.S. forces and their respective Indian allies through the War of 1812. Bordering on four of the five Great Lakes, Michigan is divided into Upper and Lower peninsulas by the Straits of Mackinac, which link lakes Michigan and Huron. The Mackinac Bridge, one of the world’s longest suspension bridges, connects the two parts of the state. To the north, connecting lakes Superior and Huron, are the busy Sault Ste. Marie Canals. While Michigan ranks first among the states in production of motor vehicles and parts, it is also a leader in many other manufacturing and processing lines, including prepared cereals, machine tools, airplane parts, refrigerators, hardware, and furniture.
The state produces important amounts of iron, copper, iodine, gypsum, bromine, salt, lime, gravel, and cement. Michigan's farms grow apples, cherries, beans, pears, grapes, potatoes, and sugar beets. Michigan's forests contribute significantly to the state's economy, supporting thousands of jobs in the wood-product, tourism, and recreation industries. With 10,083 inland lakes and 3,288 mi of Great Lakes shoreline, Michigan is a prime area for both commercial and sport fishing. Points of interest are the automobile plants in Dearborn, Detroit, Flint, Lansing, and Pontiac; Mackinac Island; Pictured Rocks and Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshores; Greenfield Village in Dearborn; and the many summer resorts along both the inland lakes and Great Lakes. Wolverine State From Indian word “Michigana” meaning “great or large lake”
The ten largest cities in Michigan are: Detroit, Grand Rapids, Warren, Flint, Sterling Heights, Lansing, Ann Arbor, Livonia, Dearborn, and Westland.
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