Who regulates your policy in Missouri
Insurance is regulated state by state, so your policy is governed by Missouri law and overseen by the Missouri Department of Commerce and Insurance — not by a federal agency. It licenses the agent who sells to you and handles complaints if something goes wrong.
Two things worth doing before you sign: verify your agent's license is active in Missouri, and keep the consumer line (800-726-7390) on hand. Both are free, and an agent not licensed in your state is a hard stop.
Your window to cancel in Missouri
No single fixed free-look period for ordinary individual life policies was found in Missouri statute or regulation. The only life-related free-look mandate located applies to replacement transactions: replacing insurers must give notice of a right to return the policy within 30 days of delivery for a full premium refund (20 CSR 400-5.400). Annuity and long-term care free-look rules are product-specific and were not used.
Because the rule is not a single fixed number here, the period that applies to you is whatever your specific policy states. Find that clause in the contract before you sign, rather than assuming a standard period exists.
If a carrier fails in Missouri
If your carrier became insolvent, the Missouri Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association is the backstop. In Missouri it covers a death benefit up to $300,000 and cash surrender value up to $100,000. Those are separate ceilings, so an IUL's accumulated cash value is protected independently of the death benefit.
This protection is not a reason to skip carrier due diligence. It caps what you would recover, and a policy designed above that cap leaves the excess exposed.
What Missouri adds to the cost
Missouri levies a state premium tax of 2% on life insurance premiums. That is right at the median of the 50 states covered here. You do not pay it as a separate line item — carriers price it into the premium, which is part of why the same policy design can cost differently across state lines.