Adjuster Licensing and Professionalism — Part 2

As discussed last month, there is little standardization among the states regarding adjuster licensing. Twenty-nine states require an exam administered by the insurance department to obtain an adjuster’s license, and most states that license either staff or independent adjusters require continuing education (CE), usually 12 to 24 credit hours every one or two years. A few require even more than that, especially in ethics. A handful of states have special requirements. Massachusetts requires licensees have two years of experience and 15 hours of continuing education every three years to maintain the license. Public adjusters are also licensed in most states. Even states that do not issue adjuster licenses still require continuing education for insurance adjusters. For example, a minimum of nine hours of ethics education is mandatory in California, and CE units are also required in fraud prevention. Most states require three to six hours of ethics annually or every two years.

The states requiring CE generally do mean “continuing education,” not just listening to some luncheon speaker at a claims association meeting, unless that speaker has pre-arranged for a certain number of continuing education units. As an occasional speaker, I have had to submit an outline of what will actually be taught, and it must be educational. The state then assigns CE units to the presentation. Too many claims associations would rather have a former football hero tell how he made a famous touchdown then discuss insurance best practices. Occasionally a book may be approved for CE units, but the number of CE units earned may differ by state.