With Congress on its summer recess, aides on the House and Senate Armed Services committees said lawmakers have not had a chance to study the report and could not speculate on what, if anything, they might do. But as the complaints, investigations and lawsuits have snowballed in the past decade, pressure has mounted to do something. Yet despite documented problems with on-base insurance solicitations that stretch back almost 30 years, Defense Department officials still seem reluctant to take decisive action. To date, only one company, Academy Life, has ever been barred from operating on all U.S. bases worldwide. And Pentagon officials still are unwilling, at this point, to go along with Cuthbert's recommendation for a blanket ban.
Commanders have the authority to bar any solicitors from base.
Cuthbert did extensive work in preparing his report, visiting bases in the Pacific Northwest, Missouri and Europe and speaking with dozens of troops, local commanders and government investigators involved in various recent lawsuits against insurance companies that heavily target the military population. His report said that one of the most serious abuses by insurance companies is the improper collection of premium payments through military allotments. The allotment system, which allows portions of military pay to be sent from the government directly to a third party without passing through the servicemember's hands, is ripe for abuse by unscrupulous insurance agents, the report said. Troops usually get the forms from either their local finance or personnel office and submit the completed forms to military officials, who can monitor where the money is going and ask questions if something doesn't seem right. There is incontrovertible evidence that many agents possess allotment forms, contrary to DOD policy.