10-7-803. Insurers - duty to compare names of insureds with death master file and to locat

10-7-803. Insurers - duty to compare names of insureds with death master file and to locate beneficiaries. (1) An insurer shall make a good faith effort to determine the death of an insured upon receipt of knowledge of death.

(2) An insurer shall perform a comparison of its insureds' in-force policies, contracts, and retained asset accounts against a death master file, on at least a semiannual basis, by using the full death master file once and thereafter using the death master file update files for future comparisons to identify potential matches of its insureds. For those potential matches identified as a result of a death master file match, the insurer shall do the following:

(a) Within ninety days of a death master file match, the insurer shall:

(I) Complete a good faith effort, which must be documented by the insurer, to confirm the death of the insured or retained asset account holder against other available records and information; and

(II) Determine whether benefits are due in accordance with the applicable policy or contract, and, if benefits are due in accordance with the applicable policy or contract:

(A) Use good faith efforts, which shall be documented by the insurer, to locate the beneficiary or beneficiaries; and

(B) Provide the appropriate claims forms or instructions to the beneficiary or beneficiaries to make a claim including the need to provide an official death certificate, if applicable under the policy or contract.

(b) With respect to group life insurance, the insurer shall confirm the possible death of an insured if the insurer maintains at least the following information of those covered under a policy or certificate:

(I) Social security number or name and date of birth;

(II) Beneficiary designation information;

(III) Coverage eligibility;

(IV) Benefit amount; and

(V) Premium payment status.

(c) An insurer shall implement procedures to account for:

(I) Common nicknames, initials used in lieu of a first or middle name, use of a middle name, compound first and middle names, and interchanged first and middle names;

(II) Compound last names, maiden or married names, and hyphens, blank spaces, or apostrophes in last names;

(III) Transposition of the "month" and "date" portions of the date of birth; and

(IV) Incomplete social security numbers.

(d) To the extent permitted by law, the insurer may disclose minimum necessary personal information about the insured or beneficiary to a person who the insurer reasonably believes may be able to assist the insurer with locating the beneficiary or person otherwise entitled to payment of the claims proceeds.

(3) An insurer or its service provider shall not charge any beneficiary or other authorized representative for any fees or costs associated with a death master file search or verification of a death master file match conducted pursuant to this section.

(4) The benefits from a policy, contract, or a retained asset account, plus any applicable accrued contractual interest shall first be payable to the designated beneficiaries or owners and in the event said beneficiaries or owners cannot be found, shall be transferred to the Colorado administrator as unclaimed property pursuant to the "Revised Uniform Unclaimed Property Act", article 13 of title 38.

(5) An insurer that fails to comply with this section is subject to the civil penalties in accordance with section 10-1-310. A private cause of action for a violation of this section is not permitted.