Report On Pending Legislation

Report On Pending Legislation

Future Reflections Sept./ Oct./ Nov.1984, Vol. 3 No. 4
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REPORT ON PENDING LEGISLATION
By James Gashel
Have you ever encountered insurance discrimination?
It's a common problem for many blind
people and families having blind members. But,
the National Federation of the Blind is attempting
to put a stop to discrimination against the
blind in insurance.
This discrimination occurs when insurance companies
refuse to sell coverage to blind people or
require them to pay higher than normal rates.
Sometimes blind individuals are excluded from
small group insurance plans, particularly health
insurance. These decisions are made by insurance
companies without any evidence to back
them up. If statistics showed that blind people
are greater risks (which they do not), denying
coverage altogether, or charging extra rates
would not be discriminatory.
Due to the efforts of the National Federation of
the Blind, several states have enacted laws or
regulations prohibiting discrimination against
the blind by insurance companies. But the state
insurance departments have not succeeded in
combatting this form of discrimination. In a
hearing before a subcommittee of the U.S. House
of Representatives held last June 27, blind people
told how they continue to face insurance discrimination
when they try to buy life insurance,
health insurance, accidental death coverage,
and so forth. There is also evidence that parents
of blind children have faced discrimination in
instances where coverage of a blind child is
denied or difficult to obtain at a rate most people
can afford.
Bills introduced in Congress -- H .R. 4642, in the
House of Representatives, and S. 2775, in the
U.S. Senate -- call for a federal ban on insurance
discrimination based on blindness. This legislation
(entitled the Fair Insurance Coverage
Act) would require insurance companies to have
"sound actuarial evidence" for any decision
made which treats blind people differently from
others. While state insurance departments would
still play some role in preventing discrimh. .vijn
against the blind under state laws, the federal
ban could be enforced by a federal court if a state
insurance department failed to act within six
months. Even though time in the remaining
days of the 98th Congress ie short, the bill may
pass the House of Representatives this session.
Then in January, 1985, it will have to be reintroduced
for consideration in the next Congress.
There is strong support in both the House
and the Senate.
If you have encountered this problem, you can
help by informing the National Federation of the
Blind. Specific cases are especially helpful. Even
if you have not encountered this form of discrimination,
you can help by asking your Senators
and Representatives to support the Fair
Insurance Coverage Act, designed to prohibit
insurance discrimination based on blindness.
In other areas, the National Federation of the
Blind is working on legislation to improve
employment opportunities for the blind through
the elimination of job bias. We are working to
improve wages for blind persons who are employed
by sheltered workshops. We seek other
measures which will improve Social Security
and Supplemental Security Income programs.
For more information on this legislation and
other issues of interest, you may contact: James
Gashel, Director of Governmental Affairs,
National Federation of the Blind, 1800 Johnson
Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21230; telephone
(301) 659-9314.
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