State annuity protection

Missouri Annuity Guaranty Protection: $250,000 Limit Explained

Under Missouri’s current schedule, qualifying annuity benefits can receive as much as $250,000 in present-value protection. A separate $300,000 combined ceiling and the act’s exclusions also apply.

Missouri annuity protection at a glance

Annuity benefit limit
$250,000
Missouri measures eligible annuity benefits at present value. Qualifying net cash surrender and withdrawal amounts count, while statutory exclusions and interest restrictions reduce what qualifies.
Overall benefit cap
$300,000
Across most covered benefit categories, Missouri ordinarily allows no more than $300,000 concerning one life. For eligible health-benefit-plan coverage, the combined ceiling may instead reach $500,000.
Who provides protection
Missouri Insurance Guaranty Associations
MOLHIGA—the Missouri Life & Health Insurance Guaranty Association—is a statutory nonprofit financed by the insurance industry, not a state-government guarantee. It responds to covered duties of impaired or insolvent members.
Insurer requirement
Member insurer
The failed issuer must belong to the member-insurer class defined by Missouri law.

How the $250,000 limit works

For the current schedule, Missouri caps the qualifying present value at $250,000 after the act’s exclusions are applied. Eligible surrender and withdrawal values are part of that measure.

Several annuities issued by the same failed member company share one $250,000 allowance when they concern the same life.

A failure at another member company ordinarily starts another limit calculation, with Missouri’s eligibility and interstate-coordination provisions still controlling.

Across most covered benefit categories, Missouri ordinarily allows no more than $300,000 concerning one life. For eligible health-benefit-plan coverage, the combined ceiling may instead reach $500,000.

  • Each qualifying structured-settlement payee, or the beneficiary or beneficiaries of a deceased payee, has a $250,000 present-value annuity ceiling, subject to Missouri’s eligibility and aggregate rules.

A $300,000 annuity example

Assume a Missouri resident has one eligible fixed annuity worth $300,000 in covered present value when its member company fails under the post-2013 schedule.

Annuity value

$300,000

Potential protection

$250,000

Possible receivership claim

$50,000

On those facts, Missouri tests the full covered present value against the $250,000 annuity ceiling.

The illustration shows only the statutory ceiling. It does not predict whether, when, or how much the receivership might distribute.

Which annuities are covered?

  • Fixed annuity

    Generally covered

    A fixed annuity can use Missouri’s current $250,000 present-value allowance when the contract and claimant meet the act’s conditions.

  • Fixed indexed annuity (FIA)

    Generally covered

    An FIA can qualify, but nonguaranteed or excess value and some uncredited or forfeitable index amounts do not. When a strategy credits less often than yearly, accrued value is calculated as though the impairment or insolvency date were its scheduled crediting date.

  • Multi-year guaranteed annuity (MYGA)

    Generally covered

    Missouri treats a MYGA as a fixed deferred annuity; its eligible value stays within the current $250,000 amount and the statute’s interest restrictions.

  • Variable annuity

    Guaranteed portions may be covered

    A variable separate account leaves investment performance with the owner. Protection reaches only an enforceable benefit guaranteed by the insurer.

  • Registered index-linked annuity (RILA)

    Contract-specific

    With a RILA, Missouri can consider a distinct insurer-backed promise, but not the market or index loss the contract assigns to its owner.

  • Unallocated annuity contract

    Generally excluded

    An unallocated contract is ordinarily outside the act. A benefit expressly guaranteed to an individual is not treated as unallocated for this purpose.

Who may qualify?

  • Missouri fixes residence at the first court order that determines the member insurer is impaired or insolvent.
  • Depending on the contract, the claimant may be an owner, enrollee, payee, certificate holder, assignee, or beneficiary. That role is evaluated with residence and the applicable coverage provisions.
  • A person living elsewhere has only a narrow route, typically involving a Missouri-domiciled insurer and no eligibility in the person’s home-state system.
  • Missouri domicile matters most when the residence-state association cannot respond because its law required a license the failed insurer did not hold there.
  • The failed issuer must belong to the member-insurer class defined by Missouri law.

What is not covered?

  • A policy or contract portion the insurer did not guarantee ordinarily receives no association protection.
  • Missouri can exclude interest or credits above its statutory benchmarks along with other benefits the act expressly omits.
  • Market and investment outcomes assigned to the contract holder stay outside MOLHIGA’s obligation.
  • Uncredited or forfeitable index value can be outside coverage, although Missouri supplies a special calculation when the crediting period exceeds one year.
  • Marketing-material promises, misrepresentation theories, extra-contractual remedies, penalties, and consequential or incidental damages are outside coverage.
  • An unusual joint-owner or owner-and-annuitant arrangement needs an individual eligibility review; it is not itself an excluded product.

What happens after an insurer fails?

  1. 1

    Court proceedings establish the insurer’s status

    Rehabilitation or conservation can establish impairment; a liquidation order carrying an insolvency finding creates the act’s mandatory insolvency duties.

  2. 2

    MOLHIGA determines eligibility

    After the applicable statutory conditions occur, the Association identifies the contracts, claimants, and benefits that fall within Missouri protection.

  3. 3

    The qualifying annuity amount is measured

    Missouri first applies its exclusions, then tests the resulting present value against the annuity-specific amount and the combined benefit ceiling.

  4. 4

    Unprotected value stays in receivership

    Contract value beyond association protection can remain an estate claim; any later distribution depends on the assets marshaled in that proceeding.

How the guaranty system is financed

When funds are required, MOLHIGA calls statutory assessments from insurers belonging to the affected account; reasonable amounts may also be retained for future losses.

Assessment allocation
Member insurers
Missouri divides assessment responsibility by statutory account and allocates each call using the premium rules for that business.
Annual assessment cap
Defined by state law
Missouri’s ceiling for any one account equals 2% of the member insurer’s mean annual Missouri premiums on covered policies and contracts across the three calendar years immediately before the impairment or insolvency year.
Premium-tax treatment
State-specific rule
A member insurer may generally offset a qualifying assessment against Missouri premium-tax liability at 20% per year during the five calendar years after the year of payment. The statute provides a corresponding sales-and-use-tax route for specified insurers.
Which benefit schedule applies
The $250,000 schedule governs when the first rehabilitation order—or liquidation order if rehabilitation never occurred—was entered on or after August 28, 2013. An earlier proceeding can remain on the former $100,000 annuity schedule.

What to know before buying

  • Evaluate the benefits the statute actually covers; the displayed contract balance is not automatically the protected amount.
  • Insurers, agents, and their affiliates may not invoke MOLHIGA’s existence to sell, solicit, or induce the purchase of a covered insurance or annuity product.

How state protection differs from FDIC insurance

  • What it covers
    State protection: Missouri’s association can protect qualifying duties under an eligible annuity, within the act’s exclusions and dollar ceilings.
    FDIC: Federal deposit insurance instead concerns qualifying money held at a bank.
  • What system stands behind it
    State protection: MOLHIGA is a member-insurer-funded nonprofit created by statute.
    FDIC: The FDIC administers a federal insurance system for deposits at participating banks.
  • Coverage-limit basis
    State protection: For the current schedule, Missouri’s annuity ceiling is $250,000 concerning one life at a particular failed member company.
    FDIC: Bank coverage groups deposits according to institution and ownership capacity.
  • Whether it applies to annuities
    State protection: State association protection can apply to an eligible annuity benefit, but the contract is never an FDIC-insured deposit.
    FDIC: An eligible bank deposit—not an annuity contract—uses FDIC insurance.

Sources and last verified

Last verified: September 17, 2026