Richard Blumenthal

Thank you. I'm going to try to be as quick as possible.

I hope that today's hearing is the beginning, not the end, of this inquiry.

Insurance companies have stalled and delayed payment of claims citing obscure clauses in policies.

This is bipartisan cooperation at work before your eyes in real time.

For the record, about 35 insurance companies still have not settled in that case.

Insurance companies have surreptitiously modified their homeowner policies without properly telling them to exclude damage to a home's foundation.

I said no, insurance regulation should continue to be a state responsibility, but I said that the states have an obligation to do better.

Well, in my view, there is no question that the disclosures were totally inadequate, that this conduct is unconscionable and indefensible, and that there ought to be adequate redress in the courts.

The insurers have an obligation to do better

This issue is potentially widespread.

I want to talk about an issue that is of grave concern to Connecticut and possibly all of the Northeast and the country, and it goes by name of pyrrhotite.

Insurance companies have used Social Security data to cut off annuity or retirement payments upon a policyholder's death.

I want to yield to the Ranking Member, my friend Senator Nelson, for some remarks because he has to leave to go to a classified intelligence briefing this morning.

Isn't this precisely the reason why people buy insurance, homeowner's insurance specifically?

Insurers have been unwilling, they have been unwilling, to provide desperately needed assistance to these homeowners.

I saw all kinds of fraudulent schemes and the stories and testimonies about misleading and sneaky insurance companies from Americans across my state in Connecticut, ought to be of tremendous concern.

Insurance fraud hurts everyone, including the business people, who are charged higher premiums, as well as consumers.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you so much for having this hearing.

The State of Insurance Fraud Technology is a critical issue that we must address.

I just want to make sure you understand, Mr. Doak, what happened here...

That will deprive them of adequate compensation for this kind of policy problem?

I would call upon members of this panel to use your moral suasion with your industry so that all of them do the right thing here because I think it is a really important example of following moral and legal responsibility.

I am out of patience. There have been lawsuits.

It's a larger issue, it's the practice among insurers of changing policies.

A couple of decades ago sex traffickers and buyers conducted their illegal transactions in dark alleys and back streets. Today these criminal transactions have moved online.