Who regulates your policy in Rhode Island
Insurance is regulated state by state, so your policy is governed by Rhode Island law and overseen by the Insurance Division of the Department of Business Regulation — 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 Rhode Island, and keep the consumer line ((401) 462-9520) on hand. Both are free, and an agent not licensed in your state is a hard stop.
Your window to cancel in Rhode Island
Rhode Island requires a free-look period of 20 days. Within that window you can return a newly issued policy and get your premium back in full, no reason required.
Use it. An IUL illustration is dense, and 20 days is enough to have the caps, participation rate, cost of insurance and surrender schedule reviewed by someone who is not being paid on the sale.
If a carrier fails in Rhode Island
If your carrier became insolvent, the Rhode Island Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association is the backstop. In Rhode Island 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 Rhode Island adds to the cost
Rhode Island 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.