Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Is there an app for this? (Stupid Government Trick)

Recently, "smart" phones have been in the news for surreptitiously tracing users' whereabouts. That might actually be a good problem to have, though, if you're the beneficiary of a life insurance policy:

"State regulators in California and Florida say they will be looking to see how well life insurers are doing at determining when the life insurance policy insureds have died."

There are, in fact, several issues here, and it's not necessarily as "open and shut" as the authorities may wish it to appear.

The first problem is that, contrary to what the state bureauweenies may wishcast, it's not the insurance company's responsibility to keep tabs on its insureds: it's the insured's responsibility to keep the carrier apprised of his (or her) location. In fact, I daresay that privacy hawks would be mightily put out if an insurer was proactive in this regard.

And I call BS on this one:

"John Chiang, the California controller, says his office has been auditing 21 insurers to evaluate compliance with state unclaimed property claims.

The audit has found widespread problems with efforts to locate beneficiaries of life policies and annuity contract death benefits."

So. What?

If you care enough about your loved ones to buy a life insurance policy, then you darned well ought to make sure that they have a clue as to:

a) It's existence,

and

b) It's location.

Sheesh!
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