Illinois’ treasurer wants to force life insurance companies to pay out more unclaimed policies.
Until this year, insurance companies could keep life insurance payouts as long as family members never tried to claim them.
That’s still the case for people who died before 2017. But state Treasurer Mike Frerichs is proposing legislation that would compel companies to scour two decades worth of records.
The insurance lobby opposes such laws. It argues tracking down family members from cases so far in the past would be too difficult. But Frerichs dismisses those concerns.
“We live in an age of robotic surgery, we’re nearly in an age of driverless cars. Cries from lobbyists that it’s too hard to find their customers ring hollow," he said.
The Illinois NAACP also supports the legislation. Chapter President Teresa Haley says Illinois’ new focus on life insurance led her members to recoup policy claims they never knew existed. She says that can be a common story, particularly for black families.
“I remember the milk man coming by our house, I remember the insurance man coming by our house, but our parents in our communities didn’t talk about life insurance or death insurance,” she said.
A law that took effect January 1 obliges companies to keep up with Social Security death records from now on.
