Aetna v. Wisconsin Insurance Commissioner

  • 1980 - SOA - The Wisconsin Imbroglio, Society of Actuaries - 3p
    • Ed. Note: Several Society members testified in a recent lawsuit in which 14 stock life companies and two field men’s groups sought to prevent Wisconsin’s Insurance Commissioner from requiring that buyers be given
      • (1) a preliminary policy summary that displays the policy’s Surrender Cost Index (SCI) but not its Net Payment Cost Index (NPCI) nor its Equivalent Level Annual Dividend (ELAD) , and
      • (2) a buyer’s guide that describes these figures in a manner objectionable to these plaintiffs.
    • We invited those actuaries to send along concise statements. The letter (P) or (D) denotes a speaker for the Plaintiffs or for the Defendant. The Plaintiffs won the case; the Defendant plans to appeal.
  • 1979-1981 - LC - Aetna v Wisconsin Insurance Commissioner  ---  [BonkNote]
    • 1979 - LC - Aetna Life Ins. Co. v. Wisconsin Insurance Commissioner, Harold Wilde - Court of Appeals
      • District Four, February 28, 1979, No. 79-001, 90 Wis. 2d 861 | 279 N.W.2d 509
    • 1981 - LC - Aetna v. Wisconsin Insurance Commissioner, Susan Mitchell - Supreme Court
      • Argued January 7, 1981 — Decided March 31, 1981
      • 303 N.W.2d 639 (Wis. 1981)
      • 1981 - ACLI - Amicus Curiae Brief - LC - Aetna v. Wisconsin Insurance Commissioner, Susan Mitchell - 28p
        • (p10) - Failure to disclose the magnitude of these important nonguaranteed elements of a life insurance policy can clearly mislead the purchaser.
        • (p10) - The trial court found that Rule INS. 2 .14 (4) (a) requiring delivery to consumers of a Summary and a Buyer's Guide, compelled delivery of false and misleading information to the consumer, contrary to §628. 34(1) (a), Wis Stats. The decision of the trial court should be affirmed. 
        • (p11) - Moreover, competition is further restricted by any system which discourages innovation, l. .e., the design of new products for the marketplace. 
      • 1981 - NAIC - Amicus Curiae Brief - LC - Aetna v. - Wisconsin Insurance Commissioner, Susan Mitchell - 
      • law.justia.com/cases/wisconsin/supreme-court/1981/80-518-9.html
      •  - GoogleScholar - [link]
        • On December 15, 1978, shortly before the January 1, 1979 effective date of Commissioner Wilde's rule, Aetna Life Insurance Company (Aetna) and others,[4] the respondents, commenced an action pursuant to sec. 227.05 (1), Stats....
      • 1981 0331 - LC - Aetna v. Wisconsin Insurance Commissioner, Susan Mitchell - Supreme Court - No. 80518 - Opinion - casetext.com/case/aetna-life-ins-co-v-mitchell
  • 1981 - SOA - Individual Life Insurance Cost Disclosure Issues, Society of Actuaries - 22p
  • What has happened in the past 2 years-even more than 2 years-in the life insurance industry has been very dramatic.
  • The products have changed considerably, mainly because of high inflation.
    • There are new products now that offer money market rates on the cash value portion of the so-called traditional whole life policy and that blows apart the old disclosure system.
    • The old indices do not accommodate that kind of product. In fact, that even came up in the trial 2 years ago vis-a-vis my proposed system.
  • The Aetna, one of the plaintiffs in the trial, argued that the current cost disclosure indices would not be suitable for their Econo-master policy which has variable aspects to it.
    • So I think that the NAIC is going to have to relook at the whole issue of life cost disclosure.
    • It is an issue that will not go away.
    • ⇒  As long as the internal benefits of a policy are not reflected in the premium, people need help in measuring those benefits.
    • ⇒  That is, in a nutshell, what cost disclosure systems have tried to do. (p10-11)

--  Susan Mitchell, Wisconsin Commissioner of Insurance

1981 0921 - GOV (House) - Insurance Agent Commission Deregulation, John LaFalce (D-NY) - PDF-109p-GooglePlay, VIDEO-?]

  • Any administrative rule requiring dissemination of cost disclosure information that is misleading due to incompleteness is beyond the scope of the insurance commissioner's authority in that it violates sub. (1) (a). Aetna Life Insurance Co. v. Mitchell, 101 Wis. 2d 90303 N.W.2d 639 (1981).

docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/statutes/statutes/628/III/345/4/b

  • The Buyer's Guide and the Policy Summary required to be delivered prior to sale emphasized the necessity of comparing the policies with the Surrender Cost Index (SCI) as a means of comparative shopping to aid in determining the lowest cost policy.

1981 0331 - LC - Aetna v Mitchell, Wisconsin Insurance Commissioner - Supreme Court - No. 80518 - Opinion - casetext.com/case/aetna-life-ins-co-v-mitchell

  • 1981 - SOA - Individual Life Insurance Cost Disclosure Issues, Society of Actuaries - 22p