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Updates
Every new Library page, every Register round, and every correction to already-published content, in one dated feed — also available as RSS and JSON.
4 more Library pages: agency licensing, Medicare Advantage certification, and two military-specific producer rules — September 16, 2026
An insurance agency is usually its own separately licensed business entity, distinct from any individual producer's license; a Medicare Advantage or Part D agent has to clear a federal annual training-and-testing certification (not just a state license) before selling a plan; a December 2024 federal law lets a military spouse's state license follow them across a PCS move; and a 2006 federal law layers specific disclosure and reporting rules onto any life insurance sale made on a US military installation.
Seventh Register round: 1 more agent/broker assessed, 0 listed — September 16, 2026
Fourteen agents/brokers checked against the standard so far; none has passed yet, so the passing directory stays empty — not by omission, but because nobody has cleared it.
3 more Library pages: pet insurance training, travel insurance's entity-level license, and how producers actually get licensed — September 16, 2026
Pet insurance is almost always sold under an ordinary P&C license, but a 2022 NAIC model act layers a pet-specific producer training requirement on top of it in a growing list of states; travel insurance runs through its own "limited lines" license usually held by a business entity, not the counter clerk or checkout page that sold it to you; and the front-end pipeline our other licensing guides don't cover — state-specific pre-licensing education, the exam, the fingerprint background check, and the NIPR application behind every new producer license.
3 more Library pages: title insurance licensing, crop insurance certification, and the LTC Partnership program — September 16, 2026
Title insurance agents hold their own NAIC-modeled license and answer to a federal anti-kickback law (RESPA) that runs alongside ordinary state anti-rebating rules; selling federal Multi-Peril Crop Insurance requires clearing a separate USDA competency exam on top of the state limited-lines license; and a Long-Term Care Partnership policy's real Medicaid asset-protection benefit depends on a producer completing a specific federal training requirement, with portability across states limited to actual reciprocity agreements.
Sixth Register round: 1 more agent/broker assessed, 0 listed — September 16, 2026
One more producer checked against our published standard, bringing the total to 13 assessed — didn't clear it, so the passing directory stays empty. We don't name a failing agent or broker publicly; see the Register for why.
3 more Library pages: New York's Regulation 187, variable products' FINRA layer, and lines of authority — September 16, 2026
New York's own, stricter best-interest rule for life insurance and annuity recommendations, including the constitutional fight it survived at the state's highest court in 2022; why a variable annuity or variable life policy needs both a state insurance license and a separate FINRA securities registration, plus the public BrokerCheck tool that checks the second one; and what a producer license's "line of authority" actually is, since an active license for the wrong line is a real, checkable gap.
7 more Library pages: LTC suitability, credit-based scoring, flood insurance training, emergency suspension, renewal-commission vesting, and two new Quebec/Canada explainers — September 16, 2026
Long-term care insurance's own NAIC suitability and replacement framework, separate from the life/annuity rules covered elsewhere; the real consumer protections behind credit-based insurance scoring, including a re-underwriting right after specific life events; the federal training requirement most producers selling NFIP flood coverage never mention; the narrower emergency-suspension track some states use to act before a hearing; a real, decided case on how ambiguous renewal-commission vesting language gets litigated when a captive agent's contract ends; and two new Canada-only explainers on Quebec's two-body AMF/Chambre disciplinary process and provincial E&O insurance requirements, which mostly run the reverse of the US default.
Fifth Register round: 2 more agents/brokers assessed, 0 listed — September 16, 2026
Two more producers checked against our published standard, bringing the total to 12 assessed — neither cleared it, so the passing directory stays empty. We don't name a failing agent or broker publicly; see the Register for why.
3 more Library pages: the federal felony bar, managing general agents, and premium trust accounts — September 16, 2026
A federal law, separate from state licensing, bars anyone convicted of a dishonesty or breach-of-trust felony from working in insurance without a regulator's written consent; a managing general agent (MGA) is a distinct, separately regulated role holding real delegated underwriting and sometimes claims authority from an insurer; and most states hold a producer responsible for premium funds in a trust or fiduciary capacity, with a dedicated trust account required in a large share of them.
3 more Library pages: viatical vs. life settlements, producer termination for cause, and the ACA Marketplace's Navigator/CAC/agent framework — September 16, 2026
The one distinction that actually separates a viatical settlement from an ordinary life settlement — and why it changes whether the payout is tax-free; the mirror image of a producer's duty to self-report, covering what an insurer has to tell the state when it fires a producer "for cause"; and a Library-only explainer of the real federal rules distinguishing a Navigator, a Certified Application Counselor, and a Marketplace-certified agent or broker.
Correction: a model act's name, on the life settlement broker page — September 16, 2026
Our life settlement broker licensing page cited "the NAIC Life Settlements Model Act." That framework's actual title, per the NAIC's own model law list, is the Viatical Settlements Model Act (#697) — a separate industry group, NCOIL, publishes its own similarly-named Life Settlements Model Act. The model number and every substantive point on the page were accurate; only the name has been corrected, with a dated note left on the page itself.
Fourth Register round: 2 more agents/brokers assessed, 0 listed — September 16, 2026
Two more producers checked against our published standard, bringing the total to 10 assessed — neither cleared it, so the passing directory stays empty. We don't name a failing agent or broker publicly; see the Register for why.
Third Register round: 3 more agents/brokers assessed, 0 listed — September 16, 2026
Three more producers checked against our published standard, bringing the total to 8 assessed — none cleared it, so the passing directory stays empty. We don't name a failing agent or broker publicly; see the Register for why.
Second Register round: 3 more agents/brokers assessed, 0 listed — September 16, 2026
Three more producers checked against our published standard, bringing the total to 5 assessed — none cleared it, so the passing directory stays empty. We don't name a failing agent or broker publicly; see the Register for why.
4 more Library pages: life settlement brokers, self-reporting, E&O claim triggers, and bad-faith claims — September 15, 2026
Selling an existing life policy for cash runs through its own separately-licensed role with a state-specific rescission window; a producer has an affirmative duty to self-report an administrative action or criminal prosecution to every state where they're licensed, on their own; industry claim data shows what actually triggers a real errors-and-omissions claim against an agent; and a plain explainer of what "bad faith" claims handling means legally, and why it's usually a separate claim from a regulatory violation.
First Register round: 2 agents/brokers assessed, 0 listed — September 15, 2026
The first two producers checked against our published standard didn't clear it, so the passing directory stays empty — not because vetting hasn't started, but because neither passed. We don't name a failing agent or broker publicly; see the Register for why.
3 more Library pages: surplus lines licensing, renewal/CE, and non-resident licensing — September 15, 2026
Surplus lines coverage requires a genuinely separate producer license and carries no state guaranty-fund backstop if the carrier fails; a license renewal cycle and continuing-education requirement keep an "active" result true over time, and inactive, lapsed, and revoked are three different, non-interchangeable statuses; and a producer needs a specific, checkable non-resident license in your state before selling to you there, not just a clean license at home.
5 more Library pages: disciplinary-record searches, insurer insolvency, adjuster types, annuity training/oversight, and appointment verification — September 15, 2026
How to search a state DOI's own disciplinary record and read a consent order; what actually happens if your insurer becomes insolvent, including the real state guaranty-association dollar caps and the surplus-lines gap; the three genuinely different kinds of claims adjuster and who each one represents; the training and insurer-supervision mechanics behind the annuity best-interest standard; and how to actually verify a producer's carrier appointment rather than just taking their word for it.
3 Canada Library pages: a Phase 1 pilot, Library-only — September 15, 2026
How Canada's provincial insurance regulators actually work (no NIPR equivalent, a split regulator in Ontario, a license/discipline split in Quebec), a province-by-province guide to checking a license plus the shared CIRDA disciplinary database, and what license reciprocity between provinces does and doesn't mean. Comparative and educational only — our published standard and Register remain United States-only, and no specific Canadian agent, broker, or agency is named or vetted.
Does selling GAP insurance require an insurance license? — September 15, 2026
GAP is legally two different products through two different channels: a dealer-sold debt-cancellation waiver, exempt from producer licensing in most states under an industry-drafted GAP Alliance model act (not an NAIC model act), and a true insurance-policy endorsement that does require a licensed producer. New York applies a narrower, statute-based three-part test to the waiver channel.
8 more Library pages: data security, annuity best interest, replacement paperwork, Medicare marketing, public adjusters, commission disclosure, policy types, and California licensing — September 15, 2026
What the NAIC's data security model law requires of an agency handling your information; the four obligations behind the 2020 annuity best-interest standard; the actual replacement-notice paperwork behind a policy swap; how Medicare Advantage and Medigap marketing rules genuinely differ; public adjusters as a distinct, separately-licensed profession; what an agent actually has to disclose about their own commission; the regulatory differences between term, whole, and universal life; and what's genuinely distinct about California's own licensing regime.
6 more Library pages: appointment, rebating, E&O, free-look, captive vs. independent, and how to complain — September 15, 2026
Why a carrier appointment is a separate, filed fact from a license; why anti-rebating law limits what an agent can offer you; which states actually mandate E&O insurance; how long a free-look period really runs; the legal difference between a captive agent and an independent broker; and how to file a complaint with your state's Department of Insurance.
The Register is open — zero agents/brokers assessed so far — September 15, 2026
The standard is published and vetting is starting. We're showing the honest current count (zero) rather than filling this page with placeholder claims; the first real assessments will appear here as they're completed.
3 Library pages: the foundation — September 15, 2026
How to check whether your insurance agent is actually licensed (NIPR and your state's own DOI lookup), what the NAIC Complaint Index measures and its carrier-vs-agent attribution limits, and what churning and twisting actually mean under NAIC's life/annuity replacement rules.
The Insurance Record launches — September 15, 2026
A published standard for individual insurance agents and brokers, tied to state producer licensing verified through NIPR, NAIC model regulations on appointment, anti-rebating, deceptive marketing, and life/annuity replacement — plus a public Register that will report findings honestly, with no paid placements and no pay-to-list badge.