June 01, 2009

Insurance is supposed to make you feel safe. Whether you buy life insurance, annuities, disability, or long-term-care insurance, the idea is to remove the threat of some nasty surprise hurting you or your family at some point in the future.Yet, with crises erupting everywhere in the financial system, people are now asking themselves if they can count on an insurance company to be there for them when they need it.The risks surfaced recently as old stalwarts in the insurance industry began to seek TARP money - the government money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

That money was set up by the U.S. Treasury to rescue banks, but insurance companies such as the Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. seemed so determined to get some they began considering bank acquisitions.Still, with the U.S. government stating that it would provide $22 billion to insurance companies, many insurers rushed to say "no thank you." Clearly, companies do not want to send any signal of distress."An insurance company can't say it is having difficulty because it could mean their death," said Beverly Hills, Calif., financial planner Glen Janken.