Another Type of Insurance Problem

One insurance suit settled, one begun

The Desmoines Register
February 7, 2008

By S.P. DINNENREGISTER BUSINESS WRITER

Another Des Moines area insurance company has run afoul of Minnesota’s attorney general over the sale of equity-indexed annuities, and now Iowa regulators say they’ll look to see whether any similar action is warranted here.Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson on Thursday accused AmerUs Group and American Investors, both business units of what is now Aviva USA, of misrepresenting terms of annuities that it sells to senior citizens. She sued them in Minnesota state court for allegedly failing to disclose key terms and conditions of equity-indexed annuities that they market.

This type of thing has been going on for some time. The 2001 downturn brought a rash of problems with oversold variable annuities (whose accumulations were tied to stock market performance). Annuities are essentially reverse life insurance once the payout stage is reached. They have their good points, but their fees are often very high.