I am writing in response to the Sunday guest commentary regarding Senate Bill 5726, the Insurance Fair Conduct Act. SB 5726 will restore balance to the insurance system, and create incentives for insurance companies to treat their customers more fairly. It will not cause a rash of lawsuits or raise premiums. SB 5726 should actually reduce litigation by requiring fewer people to sue their insurance company just to get a claim paid. Insurers will realize that they can no longer treat their customers unfairly by offering artificially low claims settlements or delaying any offer at all, and will start acting more reasonably.
Insurers who have any reasonable basis to challenge coverage or the amount of damages in a given claim can still do so. This bill does not restrict their rights. It simply addresses behavior that is unreasonable.
Currently, even if the insurance company is taken to court, the worst that can happen is the insurer will have to pay what they owed their customer in the first place. There is no incentive for the insurance company to pay the claim sufficiently, on time, or at all.
Current consumer protection laws are not enough. If they were sufficient, we wouldn’t keep hearing accounts of insureds having legitimate claims denied, delayed and ignored with no explanation – even when the insurance company had no real basis for denying the claim.
Todd C. Nichols
Everett
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
