Glossary

  • William Koenig (Northwestern Mutual) suggested that the parties all needed a common understanding of the terms used in their discussion.

1993-4, NAIC Proceedings

  • The 'unbundling' of services and other product differences between Universal Life and Ordinary Life cause current literature to be inapplicable, as well as insufficient, for Universal Life .

1984 - Academy Journal

  • It has been said that a chrysanthemum by any other name would be a lot easier to spell. It occurs to me that approximations by any other name would be a lot easier to sell.
  • Pursuing this thought further brings to light the fact that our nomenclature in this field is not only poor semantics but also far from precise.

-- E. ALLEN ARNOLD

1955 - ANALYSIS OF APPROXIMATE VALUATION METHODS,, Society of Actuaries

<Birney Birnbaum - Glossary>

  • He <Michael Lovendusky - ACLI> said his initial concern is that a glossary adds pages when the Working Group is trying to develop a very short overview.
  • Mr. Birnbaum said his idea was to have the glossary on the back-side of a singlesided overview.
  • Ms. Lerner said she likes the idea but thinks there will be a space problem with overviews of more complex life insurance policies.
  • Mr. Wicka asked whether the Life Insurance Buyer’s Guide includes a glossary and whether it might make sense to think about how this glossary could be included with the Life Insurance Buyer’s Guide revisions.
    • He also asked whether this could be added to the definitional requirements that are already part of the illustration.

2017 0917, LIIIWG Conference Call, NAIC

  • Mr. Birnbaum also said it is reasonable to include a glossary along with the policy overview, especially for people who are receiving a paper policy overview.
  • Ms. Micale <ACLI> responded that this is an overview of a term life insurance policy and not a comparison shopping tool. She said it would be unreasonable to require the more than 300 different life insurance companies to provide customized glossaries.
  • Mr. Yanacheak said insurance companies using the same term to mean different things is concerning and an issue that should be resolved.
  • Ms. Winer suggested looking into whether the NAIC microsite Insure U would be a good spot for a glossary.
    • Ms. Mealer agreed with Ms. Winer’s suggestion

2017 1019, LIIIWG NAIC

  • Meantime the policy contains all these many words presumably to make clear to the insured what the coverage is. We concede that all this verbiage is now “required” by law or regulation but is it essential?
  • Perhaps the new Committee on the Valuation and Non-Forfeiture Laws may find it desirable to say something about the relatively unintelligible verbosity of the policy contracts. 
  • Surely some of the criticism about the complexity of the policy should be heeded by the industry.

1973 - The Actuary - Vol 7 No 2

  • The working group discussed the advisability of including definitions in the model act or the regulation.
    • The working group decided it was more appropriate to include these in the regulation.
  • Mr. Albus <NALU/ NAIFA> pointed out that the definitions needed to also include a "man on the street" definition, after the group had agreed on the definitions with the actuaries.

1993-4, NAIC Proc.

  • 3. There should be a glossary of terms included with the form, either up front or at the end of the form but with a note upfront that the applicant will find a glossary at the back of the document.
  • A reading of the body of this report will make evident which terms should be included in the glossary.

1990-1A, Universal Life Disclosure Form Focus Group Summary, LIMRA Recommendations