TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation (Office), Florida Department of Financial Services (DFS), and the Florida Office of the Attorney General (AG) today announced that a $1.2 million life claim settlement agreement has been reached with the Symetra Life Insurance Company and Symetra National Life Insurance Company. It is the second such settlement in the past two weeks and 15th overall reached by the three agencies with the cooperation of the industry in an ongoing investigation of illegal trade practices under the laws of Florida and seven other participating states.
The settlement agreement with the companies and other similar insurers focuses on their one-sided use of the Social Security Administration’s Death Master File (DMF) to stop paying a deceased person’s annuity, but not use the same information to find and begin paying the deceased’s family or other beneficiaries for life insurance policies. Symetra has agreed to implement business reforms correcting this practice and to make a payment, which will be disbursed among the participating states.
Entire Press Release as .pdf | Florida Office of Insurance Regulation