Ohio bill would set up statewide life insurance database

An Ohio legislative proposal would create a statewide database of life insurance policies designed to help beneficiaries obtain unclaimed proceeds.

The information in the database would be made available only when a policyholder dies and only to people specifically listed in the policyholder’s will, according to proposal, House Bill 476.

Life insurance companies doing business in Ohio would be required to register policies in the database within 30 days of issuing them. The bill grants unspecified powers to the state’s superintendent of insurance to “adopt rules as necessary to establish and implement the statewide life insurance database.”

The Ohio Department of Insurance declined comment on Yuko’s proposal. However, the department last year implemented a voluntary program that does what Yuko’s proposal calls for, according to spokeswoman Carly Glick. Some life insurance companies are already participating in the free program, Glick said.

The program allows members of a deceased person’s family to submit a life insurance search request to the department, which then forwards the request to all life insurance companies licensed in Ohio.

The Ohio Association of Health Plans is still reviewing the bill and has not taken a position on it, President Kelly McGivern said.

It’s estimated that millions of dollars in life insurance proceeds currently could be claimed by beneficiaries from North American insurance companies, according to MIB Solutions, a risk management consultant to the insurance industry.

Photo from flickr user Ambient Damage