The New York Department of Financial Services has issued a mandate requiring New York life insurers to search the U.S. Social Security Administration’s Death Master File every three months in order to find beneficiaries of the recently deceased who are unaware they are eligible for benefits.
Announced on Monday, the regulation is a result of a DFS inquiry last year that investigated policies for which no claims had been made. The initiative netted 32,715 payments of $262.2 million to consumers nationwide, including 7,525 payments totaling $95.9 million to New Yorkers.
