Maryland Insurance (MD)

In 2001 there were 3.4 million ordinary life insurance policies in force with a total value of $218.9 billion; total value for all categories of life insurance (ordinary, group, industrial, and credit) was $346.7 billion. Death benefits paid that year totaled $883.9 million. As of 2000, there were 49 property and casualty and 13 life and health insurance companies incorporated or organized in the state. In 2001, property and casualty insurers wrote premiums totaling $6.1 billion. That year, there were 50,144 flood insurance policies in force in the state, with a total value of $5.8 million.

The Maryland Automobile Insurance Fund, a quasi-independent agency created in 1972, pays claims against uninsured motorists (i.e., hit-and-run drivers, out-of-state uninsured motorists, and state residents driving in violation of Maryland's compulsory automobile insurance law), and sells policies to Maryland drivers unable to obtain insurance from private companies.

The State Insurance Division of the Department of Licensing and Regulation licenses all state insurance companies, agents, and brokers, and must approve all policies for sale in the state.