Tennessee Touts 2020 Growth of Insurance Industry, Consumer Efforts

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The Tennessee Department of Commerce & Insurance (TDCI) has located and returned more than $22.8 million to Tennesseans in combinedlife insurance benefits/annuities and monies through its mediation efforts in 2020.

TDCI’s figures show:

$10,164,747 was returned to Tennessee consumers last year as a result of TDCI’s mediation efforts — a process where TDCI insurance investigators intercede between insurance companies and policyholders to get wrongfully denied claims overturned and paid for policyholders.
$12,707,272was located in 2020 for Tennessee consumers through the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ (NAIC) Life Insurance Policy Locator Service. Available since November 2016, the Life Insurance Policy Locator Service is a free tool that enables beneficiaries, executors or legal representatives of a deceased person to track down the life insurance policies or annuity contracts of their late family members or friends.

“In the midst of last year’s unprecedented challenges, our insurance team continued to assist hard-working Tennesseans by working to help return money through the mediation process and by answering their questions and providing information regarding their insurance policies,” said TDCI Commissioner Carter Lawrence.

TDCI also highlighted the ongoing growth of the insurance industry in the state, including:

Two new Tennessee domestic insurance companies were licensed in 2020, for a total of 65 total licensed active Tennessee domestic insurance companies.
$27.9 billion in nationwide premium was written by these 65 Tennessee domestic insurance companies. This represents a 20.4% increase in premium volume written by Tennessee domestic insurance companies compared to 2019.
53 new traditional insurance companies headquartered outside of Tennessee were licensed to do business in Tennessee during 2020.
1,907 total traditional insurance companies are actively licensed in Tennessee.
$45.1 billion in premium volume written in Tennessee by these 1,907 insurance companies, making Tennessee No. 16 in the nation for premium volume according to the NAIC.
226,454 insurance agents are licensed in Tennessee in 2020, an 11.8% increase since December of 2019.
A new and more paperless licensing system launched in 2020 to help modernize insurance licensing in Tennessee.
International Paper relocated its captive insurance company from Vermont to Tennessee, establishing Tennessee’s 700th risk-bearing entity.
For the eighth consecutive year, workers’ compensation insurance premiums are likely to decline for most Tennessee businesses.