Kansas rules limit insurance sales to troops - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Kansas rules limit insurance sales to troops

TOPEKA, Kan. — Annuity and life insurance salesmen can’t solicit soldiers who are on duty or attending compulsory meetings on their bases, under new state rules.

The rules took effect Thursday, immediately after their approval by a state board that reviews administrative regulations. They supplement federal and state laws designed to prevent salesmen from cheating military personnel, and they also spell out what the state’s Insurance Department considers deceptive or unfair practices.

The military already has it own policies, and individuals and companies using questionable sales tactics can be banned from installations nationwide. But if the Insurance Department has its own rules in place, it can suspend or revoke agents’ licenses or impose fines against them or their companies.

The new rules also prevent life insurance salesmen from soliciting business on a military post without first getting permission from its commander. Also, companies cannot use military personnel as representatives, regardless of whether they are paid.

John Campbell, the Insurance Department’s general counsel, said he hasn’t heard of any abuses in Kansas. He said they’re most likely to occur at basic training centers, home to mostly young recruits.

Fort Riley has a long-standing policy of requiring companies and their agents to get a permit to solicit business on post. They must provide information about the firm, themselves and their projects, and the post’s legal department decides whether they will be permitted to sell, said Dori Farrow, the fort’s civilian chief of administration and operations.

Up until last year, the post seemed to receive one or two complaints a month about unauthorized solicitations, though the pace has lessened this year, she said.

“They come on post without us knowing about it,” she said. “They’ll hold group presentations with the soldiers in different areas on Fort Riley. We’ve actually caught them in some of our facilities.”

In 2004, questions about whether soldiers were being sold high-cost, low-benefit life insurance policies surfaced in national news reports and at a congressional hearing. Congress passed restrictions last year.

Kansas legislators followed up this year with a law giving the insurance commissioner the authority to impose rules for sales on military bases, leaving the details to that office.

The Insurance Department plans to have a hearing Sept. 19 to determine whether any changes are warranted. Such changes would then take effect in October.