Illinois legislators are considering whether to force insurance companies to find beneficiaries of unclaimed life insurance policies going back 20 years. A new law already makes the companies look for beneficiaries of clients who die from this year onward. The proposal would extend that requirement back to 1996.
The Illinois NAACP is among the supporters. Chapter President Teresa Haley says Illinois’ new focus on life insurance has 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.”
The insurance industry has opposed such legislation. It argues it’s too difficult to find family members from such old cases.