Verifying carrier and agent legitimacy: a protocol

Prior to disclosing health history, personal information, or payment details, a three-step verification protocol confirms the counterparty's legitimacy. Each step is free, requires only minutes, and is the standard applied before proceeding with any application.

Step one: confirm state licensure for both the carrier and the agent

Every state maintains an insurance department (variously titled a Department or Division of Insurance) responsible for licensing every company and individual agent authorized to transact business there. This licensure is public record, and every state provides a no-cost lookup tool to confirm license status by name. Where the relevant regulator is unclear, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners maintains a directory at naic.org that resolves this in seconds. This verification requires no specialized expertise — it is the standard tool regulators expect consumers to use.

Step two: request the agent's National Producer Number

Every licensed agent is assigned a National Producer Number (NPN) at the time of licensure — a persistent identifier independent of current carrier affiliation. A licensed professional will provide this number without hesitation upon request, and it is verifiable through the same state lookup tools referenced above. Hesitation, deflection, or an inability to produce an NPN should be treated as sufficient grounds to halt the transaction pending independent verification.

Step three: evaluate the requested payment method

Legitimate carriers collect premium exclusively through standard, traceable instruments — bank draft, a check payable to the carrier, or a card charged directly by the carrier. No legitimate transaction requires deviation from these methods. A request for wire transfer, gift cards, cryptocurrency, or mailed cash should be treated as disqualifying — no legitimate insurance company employs these payment methods under any circumstance. Each shares a defining characteristic unrelated to insurance: once transmitted, the funds are effectively unrecoverable.

Apply this protocol to anyone who contacts you

This website is not an insurer or an insurance agency. It connects visitors with independent licensed insurance agents, agencies and insurance carriers. Apply the same checks to anyone who contacts you: ask for the agent's license number (NPN), verify it with your state department of insurance, and independently verify any carrier named in the conversation. A legitimate agent incurs no risk from a five-minute verification, and no one should be expected to proceed on assurance alone.