Mark Dayton: “this legislation I am proud to cosponsor, along with my distinguished colleague from Mississippi, is called the Uniform…”

“this legislation I am proud to cosponsor, along with my distinguished colleague from Mississippi, is called the Uniform Insurance Noncoverage Disclosure Act. I call it ``honesty is the best insurance policy act.'' It says very simply that all insurance policies--medical, homeowners, whatever they are--must state clearly on the cover page what the policy does not cover. My colleague from Mississippi can speak eloquently and powerfully about his experiences in his State post-Katrina, but even before that disaster occurred, I have seen similar situations in Minnesota of good people whose lives were devastated by illnesses or natural disasters and then were further devastated by discovering that their losses or expenses were not covered by their insurance policies. For years, they had faithfully paid their premiums believing they had comprehensive coverage, only to find out too late that was untrue. Insurance companies write the policies, they interpret the policies, they decide what they will and will not cover, and then they handle the appeals and make the final decisions. If they deny the claims, they pocket those dollars in profits. If they honor the claims, they pay them out in losses. Talk about a stacked deck in their favor and against the consumer. I have had aggrieved constituents show me their homeowners policies. I am an intelligent, well-educated man, but it is impossible to decipher them.…”