{"id":3669,"date":"2015-06-01T18:44:20","date_gmt":"2015-06-01T18:44:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=3669"},"modified":"2015-06-01T18:44:20","modified_gmt":"2015-06-01T18:44:20","slug":"critics-call-insurance-bill-excessive-harmful-to-consumers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=3669","title":{"rendered":"Critics Call Insurance Bill \u201cExcessive,\u201d Harmful to Consumers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><em>by Eric Galatas\/TNS<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>AUSTIN, Texas &#8211; A bill making its way through the Texas Legislature would eliminate penalties for insurance companies when they\u2019re late paying claims.<\/p>\n<p>The author of SB 1628, Senator Larry Taylor (R-Friendswood), says it would stop what he terms \u201clawsuit abuse by storm-chasing trial lawyers.\u201d Taylor owns an insurance agency.<\/p>\n<p>Tim Morstad, associate state director for AARP Texas, says anyone who owns property in the state is getting caught in the crossfire.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople pay their premiums on time, and when they need their insurers to help repair damage, the insurers should pay in full on time as well,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3670\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3670\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3670\" src=\"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/gr-46264-1-1.jpg\" alt=\"Critics of SB 1628 say consumers are being squeezed out in a legal fight between the insurance industry and trial lawyers over the payment of claims dealing with hail-damaged roofs and other storm-related losses. Photo: Courtesy of Federal Emergency Management Agency.\" width=\"600\" height=\"472\" srcset=\"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/gr-46264-1-1.jpg 600w, https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/gr-46264-1-1-300x236.jpg 300w, https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/gr-46264-1-1-405x319.jpg 405w, https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/gr-46264-1-1-100x78.jpg 100w, https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/gr-46264-1-1-80x63.jpg 80w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-3670\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Critics of SB 1628 say consumers are being squeezed out in a legal fight between the insurance industry and trial lawyers over the payment of claims dealing with hail-damaged roofs and other storm-related losses. Photo: Courtesy of Federal Emergency Management Agency.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Morstad adds the new law could be devastating for older Texans living on fixed incomes. The bill, which has already cleared the state Senate, was advanced by the House Insurance Committee on Friday without any public testimony. It could be called to a vote by the full House at any time.<\/p>\n<p>One of the bill\u2019s provisions eliminates a long-standing Texas law which ensures insurance companies pay claims on time and in full. Critics say the change would incentivize \u201clow and slow\u201d payments.<\/p>\n<p>Morstad says if a homeowner has a damaged roof and the insurer only offers to pay 60 percent of the cost, the insurer would only be penalized for the unpaid portion of a valid claim.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou can\u2019t put on 60 percent of a roof,\u201d he says. \u201cYou either get paid in full and you replace your roof, or you don\u2019t. This bill really stacks the deck against consumers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Morstad argues there are better ways to deal with litigation that insurers feel is excessive. He says it isn\u2019t right to punish honest people who\u2019ve already been victimized by weather-related catastrophes by delaying their claims and giving them little recourse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Eric Galatas\/TNS AUSTIN, Texas &#8211; A bill making its way through the Texas Legislature would eliminate penalties for insurance companies when they\u2019re late paying claims. The author of SB 1628, Senator Larry Taylor (R-Friendswood), says it would stop what he terms \u201clawsuit abuse by storm-chasing trial lawyers.\u201d Taylor owns an insurance agency. Tim Morstad, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3670,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-state"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3669"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3669\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3671,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3669\/revisions\/3671"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}