This month, across the industry, consumers are being encouraged to focus on the benefits of life insurance during Life Insurance Awareness month. In addition, sharing information about the importance of purchasing flood insurance kept many of us busy. Meanwhile, we hope that you all have the opportunity to attend the Insurance Summit. There are several communication sessions that may pique your interest. As always, be sure to let us know how we can be of assistance!

Are You Registered for the 2020 Insurance Summit?

The Insurance Summit kicked off Tuesday, September 8. If you have not registered, there’s still time to participate in this highly anticipated event. All the courses offered this year are available on our website. For quick reference, the Communications track offerings are on Sept 16 and 17, and include the following sessions:

• Strategic Communication and Stakeholder Activism (Roger Bolton- Page Communications)
• Media Training- Inside the Mind of a Reporter (Mark Bernheimer- Media Works) *
• How COVID-19 is Changing Society- America Adapts! (Grant McCracken, PhD- Culturematic)
• Scoop on Social Media: Not Another Facebook Update (Meg Kelly & Katy Zimmerman- Barkley)
• Crisis Communications in the Internet Age- The Canary in The Coal Mine vs. Whack-A-Mole (Richard Levick- LEVICK)
• Active Voice in Writing & Readability (Brenda Cude, PhD- University of Georgia)

*The NAIC is paying for 75-minute virtual coaching sessions with Mark Bernheimer of Media Works. These sessions are for deputies and key spokespeople who attend Mark’s session during the summit on September 17. A few of you have  expressed interest. The virtual sessions will be held in October and November.

If you’d like to sign up for training outside of the Summit, contact Stefanie Bryant, following Mark Bernheimer’s September 17 session, and prior to October 1, 2020.

About the Insurance Summit

The Insurance summit is a premier insurance conference that combines the best of the NAIC and NIPR resources while bringing together innovators and regulators to explore the newest ideas, the latest technology and the future of regulatory practices.

NAIC Hires Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Director

 

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) announces Evelyn Boswell as the company’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) Director. Boswell will start her new role effective mid-September. 

Based in Kansas City, Missouri, Boswell will be responsible for leading the NAIC Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts throughout the organization, including overseeing the newly formed DE&I Council.

Boswell has more than 20 years of experience in Human Resources, leading Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in major Kansas City organizations including Hallmark Cards, GEHA, the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, and Ronald McDonald House Charities. Boswell received her master’s degree from Webster University in Human Resources Management and her bachelor’s degree from Arkansas State University in Health Services Management. 

Read the full news release here.

NAIC Special Committee on Race and Insurance to Hold Open Meeting Sept. 17

The NAIC’s Special Committee on Race and Insurance will hold an open meeting via WebEX on Thursday, September 17, 2020, from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. EDT. Instructions for joining the meeting will be made available on naic.org prior to the meeting date.

The purpose of the meeting will be to review the Special Committee’s charges, workstreams and take comments from members of the Special Committee and interested parties regarding:

• The current level of diversity and inclusion within the insurance industry, the insurance regulatory community and the NAIC;
• Access by people of color and historically underrepresented groups to insurance products and coverages;
• The existence of current practices or barriers in the insurance sector that potentially disadvantage people of color and/or historically underrepresented groups in the areas of (a) life insurance and annuities; (b) health insurance; and (c) property and casualty insurance; and
• Steps insurance regulators and/or the insurance industry can take to (a) increase diversity and inclusion within insurance industry, state insurance departments, and the NAIC; and (b) address practices that potentially disadvantage people of color and/or historically underrepresented groups.

Interested parties may submit written statements on any of these issues, particularly those issues and/or workstreams that should be prioritized by NAIC members. All written statements will be considered by the Special Committee.

Life Insurance Awareness Month

Each September we focus on Life Insurance Awareness Month. It’s the perfect opportunity to educate consumers about the importance of including a life insurance policy in their financial planning. We have created a Life Insurance media tool kit for you to use. In it, you’ll find press releases, consumer education resources and graphics that you can use and share in your respective areas.

Also, this year we are excited to release the annual numbers from the Life Insurance Policy Locator Service. Since 2016, this free online tool, maintained by the NAIC, has received 227,551 requests countrywide, which has led to 81,349 matches of life insurance policies or annuities with claim amounts of $1,028,479,262 being reported by companies through July 31, 2020. The service was first launched in November 2016.

If you are looking for state numbers, let Stefanie Bryant know and she can get those for you.

NAIC Accepting Applicants for 2021 Consumer Liaison Representatives

The NAIC is currently accepting applications for its 2021 Consumer Liaison Program. If you know of anyone to refer, please click here for more information. The application deadline is 5:00 p.m. Central Time on Oct. 31, 2020.

Monthly PIO Spotlight

Our new PIO Spotlight Initiative allows us to highlight different state departments, Communications teams and the work you do! The spotlight not only puts faces, along with names of our Communication professionals, but it also provides us an opportunity to see what other departments are doing.

Please send a picture with you and  your team and answers to the following questions below to Stefanie Bryant.

Meet the Oklahoma Insurance Department’s Communications (COMMS) team:

Success Is

• Effectively managing expectations of the Communications office
• Being team players and getting the job done
• Completing process management guidelines for our Communication projects

Outreach Opportunities

• We are currently doing outreach through webinars, primarily for the Senior Citizen population. "Hoodwinked" was our first outreach series. We had over 1,300 participants for the four events. 
• We are producing eight different webinars for Medicare Open enrollment. 
• COMMS is trying something different with a new campaign called ‘We are OID.’  The goal is to highlight a division director each month with a video explaining who they are, what they do and a success story explaining how they helped a consumer. These vignettes will be released through social media and accessible via a dedicated OID webpage. 

Upcoming Priorities

• Highlight everything that OID has done for the industry and the consumers during COVID.
• Expand our marketing to the Spanish speaking community.
• Create ways to answer the questions, Who is OID? And, How can they help me?

NAIC Consumer Outreach

The following is a list of NAIC consumer materials that have been distributed and released since our last eNewsletter:

Want to Purchase Life Insurance? Here Are Tips to Help You Through the Process

Understanding Your Health Insurance Card

5 Myths About Riding Out a Hurricane

Health Insurance Claim Denied? How to Appeal the Denial

Buying Your Dream Home? Protect Your Property with Title Insurance
 

The Regulators Podcast

Season 2, Episode 7 is a special episode of The Regulators. Guest host, and Connecticut Commissioner, Andrew Mais  along with his guests:

California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara; New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance Commissioner Marlene Caride; Aflac Chief Executive Officer, Dan Amos; and Consumer Advocate and Chair of the Connecticut Insurance Department Subcommittee on Big Data, Sonja Larkin-Thorne discuss racial equality in how insurance products are delivered and sold, and racial diversity within the insurance industry.

It’s a very thoughtful, detailed look into some of the systemic policies in place in the insurance industry, as well as a candid conversation on what these industry executives think should be done. If you have not already, I encourage you to download this episode.

Word of the Week

Listed below are the words for the coming weeks. Please feel free to use and distribute these on your social media channels using the hashtag #NAICWotW. 

Sept. 9 – Health Maintenance Organization (HMO)
 

Sept. 16 – Pre-authorization
 

Sept. 23 – Pet Insurance Plans
 

Sept. 30 – Guaranteed Renewable Policy
 

Reminder No PIO Call for September

Due to the Insurance Summit and the Special Committee on Race and Insurance there will not be a monthly PIO Call for September. Our next Webex meeting will be Thursday, Oct. 15. 

If you have an announcement about your State Insurance Department, email Stefanie Bryant.