Insurance marketing compliance, the questions to ask first

If your agency calls or texts leads using an autodialer, a prerecorded or artificial voice, or sends marketing texts, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act generally requires the consumer's prior express written consent. Your lead form must say clearly what the person is agreeing to, and your follow-up has to stay inside that consent.

The lead form records the visitor's consent with the submission, but the wording is yours. Write it with your counsel to cover the channels you actually use: manual calls, automated calls, texts, and whether a HighLevel workflow sends anything automatically.

Federal rules have moved recently. The FCC's 2023 "one-to-one consent" rule, which would have required consent to name a single seller, was vacated by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in January 2025 (Insurance Marketing Coalition v. FCC). Several states also have their own telemarketing laws, some stricter than the federal one, and consumers can revoke consent, which your systems must honor.

Do-not-call rules apply separately: check the National Do Not Call Registry and keep an internal do-not-call list unless your counsel confirms an exemption applies.

FCC: unwanted calls and textsNational Do Not Call RegistryOur lead consent notice

A website reaches every state, but your license does not. Generally a producer needs a license, resident or nonresident, in the state where the prospect lives before soliciting or selling, and many carriers require an appointment before you write their business. Licensing rules and appointment timing vary by state.

A calculator on your site can be used by anyone. Decide in advance what you do with a lead from a state where you are not licensed: refer it, decline it, or obtain the license before discussing coverage. Your HighLevel workflow can branch on the visitor's state if you collect it in your own intake.

InsuranceQuoteWidget is not licensed and does not solicit, sell or quote. The licensed party in every calculator lead is your agency.

NAIC: state insurance regulatorsNIPR producer licensingOur insurance disclosures

Marketing Medicare Advantage or Part D plans is governed by CMS rules, including the Medicare Communications and Marketing Guidelines. Third-party marketing organizations must use the required TPMO disclaimer, and scope-of-appointment rules apply before a sales meeting. CMS updates these rules regularly, so check the current guidance before launching a Medicare page.

Our calculators are educational and plan-neutral: they estimate figures such as long-term care costs or HSA balances, and never name or compare Medicare plans. That does not take your page outside CMS rules. If the page around the calculator promotes Medicare Advantage or Part D, your disclaimers, the lead form wording and your follow-up all count as marketing.

Several CMS marketing provisions have changed since 2023, and parts of recent rules have been challenged in court. Confirm with your carriers' compliance teams and the current CMS guidance rather than relying on a summary, including ours.

Plan who receives Medicare-age leads. A workflow can route them only to producers who are certified with the relevant plans for the current year.

CMS: Medicare marketing and communicationsMedicare-age line hub

Agents and brokers who help consumers enroll through the Federally-facilitated Marketplaces must register with CMS each plan year, complete the required training and follow its standards of conduct. CMS also requires documented consumer consent before an agent acts on a consumer's behalf. State-based Marketplaces set their own requirements.

A website lead is not Marketplace consent. Consent to be contacted about health coverage is one thing; the consent CMS requires before you access or submit a consumer's Marketplace application is separate and has its own documentation rules.

Our ACA premium tax credit calculator estimates subsidy eligibility for education only; the enrollment itself still runs through your Marketplace process.

CMS: agents and brokers in the MarketplaceHealth line hub

Most states have adopted the NAIC's suitability in annuity transactions model, revised in 2020 to a best-interest standard, so a recommendation must reflect the consumer's financial situation and objectives. Variable annuities are securities: selling them requires securities registration as well as an insurance license, and FINRA rules apply.

Our annuity calculators illustrate how money might grow or pay out under assumptions the visitor enters. They are not recommendations and do not consider suitability. The producer still collects the full suitability information and documents the basis for any recommendation.

If you embed the variable annuity calculator, check with your broker-dealer whether the page needs principal review or additional disclosures before it goes live.

FINRA Rule 2330: deferred variable annuitiesNAIC: state insurance regulatorsAnnuities line hub

State unfair trade practices laws and advertising regulations prohibit misleading insurance advertising, such as implying a policy costs less, covers more or is easier to get than it is. Carriers often add their own review rules for captive agents. Wording on your calculator page, ads and emails is advertising.

Our calculators use estimate language and never show premiums, which avoids the most common problem: a website number that underwriting cannot honor. Keep the page around it consistent. Avoid promising savings, approval or the lowest price, and do not describe a needs estimate as a quote.

The disclaimer under each calculator is editable so you can add the wording your state or carrier requires, such as your agency name and license number.

NAIC: state insurance regulatorsOur calculator disclaimer

Calculator leads can include financial figures and, for long-term care or HSA tools, health-related costs. Insurance privacy rules, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act's framework, state privacy laws and some state consumer health data laws may apply to how you collect, use and share that information. Tell visitors what you do with it.

Your agency's privacy notice should cover calculator submissions: what is collected, why, who it is shared with (your CRM, your carriers) and how to request deletion. Our privacy policy covers what InsuranceQuoteWidget does as your software provider.

Some state laws treat inferences about health as health data even when no diagnosis is entered. Ask counsel whether a long-term care or HSA estimate falls into that category in the states where you market.

FTC: Gramm-Leach-Bliley ActData requests

The Department of Justice has said the ADA applies to the websites of businesses open to the public, and website accessibility complaints are not limited to large companies. Many businesses use the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines as their benchmark. The calculator page you publish is part of your site's accessibility, styling included.

Check that the calculator and the page around it can be used with a keyboard and a screen reader, that colour choices keep enough contrast, and that the lead form's labels make sense out of context. Palette and custom CSS changes you make can affect contrast, so test after styling.

Our accessibility statement describes the work we do on the calculators themselves.

ADA.gov: web accessibility guidanceW3C: WCAG overview