As we noted in the Bulletin, HB 3008, which would interfere with the insurance industry’s ability to contract with its agents, is set for hearing tomorrow, Tuesday, April 4, in the House Insurance Committee. TALHI’s opposition piece can be found here. Please contact the members of the House Insurance Committee, as listed below, and voice your opposition to this measure! Grassroots opposition is the perfect complement to your TALHI Team’s efforts on the ground here in Austin.

• This bill interferes with the ability of a life insurer to contract with its agents by prohibiting a company from prohibiting its agents to act as life settlement agents.
• This bill undermines the relationship between life insurers and their customers, potentially causing confusion and increasing the liability of insurers for the actions of their agents.
• Life insurers are in the business of providing protection to our policyholders, and we have a keen interest in ensuring that policies do not lapse or surrender.
• In fact, we offer several alternatives to enable our clients to remain policyholders and keep their coverage in force. These include the use of policy and dividend values to pay premium, reducing the face amount of coverage to lower premium, dropping riders to reduce premium, and in cases of terminal illness, accelerated death benefit riders to give the policyholder the cash they need while preserving a death benefit for their family and loved ones.
• In general, settlements don’t offer policyholders the true value of the insurance policy and policyholders receive more value (the policy's intrinsic value) by holding on to the policy. A typical life settlement will only leave the policyholder with a small amount beyond the cash value of the policy.
• Finally, this bill is a solution in search of a problem. Complaint data shows that in the past 5 years TDI has had less than 30 justified complaints regarding agent intimidation.