{"content":[{"text":"OFFICE OF ILLINOIS STATE TREASURER \n MICHAEL W. FRERICHS","bbox":{"left":0.294118,"top":0.06672,"width":0.557717,"height":0.05573199999999999}},{"text":"FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE \n April 25, 2017","bbox":{"left":0.094118,"top":0.190916,"width":0.244095,"height":0.035028000000000004}},{"text":"CONTACT: \n Paris Ervin \n Greg Rivara","bbox":{"left":0.505882,"top":0.190916,"width":0.10040400000000005,"height":0.05321000000000001}},{"text":"217.524.5749 \n 312.814.1901","bbox":{"left":0.623529,"top":0.208795,"width":0.107549,"height":0.035331}},{"text":"Frerichs Proposal to Compel Life Insurance Companies \n to Pay Death Benefits Dating Back to 1996 \n Passes Illinois House","bbox":{"left":0.100088,"top":0.267576,"width":0.776321,"height":0.08356800000000003}},{"text":"SPRINGFIELD – Legislation requiring life insurance companies to look back to 1996 to identify \n policy holders who have died and the benefits have not been claimed or paid to their loved ones \n passed the Illinois House today, Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs said.","bbox":{"left":0.094118,"top":0.37897,"width":0.788332,"height":0.05506000000000005}},{"text":"The Illinois House passed the proposal (HB 302) by a vote of 68-47. The proposal now goes to the \n Senate for consideration.","bbox":{"left":0.094118,"top":0.448667,"width":0.788215,"height":0.037636}},{"text":"“We must continue to stand up for Illinois consumers and make sure they are getting what they are \n owed from insurance companies,” Frerichs said. “For decades, we know some life insurance \n companies manipulated the rules to avoid paying death benefits, and that dishonest practice to help \n pad their bottom line at the expense of the deceased needs to stop.”","bbox":{"left":0.094118,"top":0.500939,"width":0.7883290000000001,"height":0.07248500000000002}},{"text":"House Bill 302 requires insurers to evaluate policies in force since 1996, including those currently \n in lapsed or terminated status, because Frerichs and supporters believe some of these policies should \n have been paid to survivors. The legislation also requires insurers to request updated contact \n information for insureds and beneficiaries, such as a telephone number, mailing address, or email \n address. Doing so could avoid polices from going unpaid as a result of missing or mistaken contact \n information. The legislation also prohibits finders from charging owners a fee to recover their \n property from the time the property is presumed abandoned until it has been with the treasurer’s \n office for at least 24 months. Finally, the proposal would provide the treasurer’s office with access \n to vital records maintained by the Illinois Department of Public Health to assist in reuniting \n unclaimed property with the rightful owners or their heirs.","bbox":{"left":0.094118,"top":0.588061,"width":0.788332,"height":0.17703000000000002}},{"text":"“For too long, life insurers have offered a promise they would not keep: to be there for your family \n when your loved one is gone. I’ve been proud to work earnestly with Treasurer Frerichs and my \n colleagues in the Legislature to make them live up to that promise through Illinois law, and this bill \n is another important step toward that goal,” said state Rep. Rob Martwick, a Chicago Democrat and \n the bill’s sponsor.","bbox":{"left":0.094118,"top":0.78003,"width":0.78196,"height":0.08990900000000002}},{"text":"-MORE­","bbox":{"left":0.453333,"top":0.884727,"width":0.06966700000000003,"height":0.020212000000000008}}],"images_bbox":[{"left":0.09902,"top":0.037689,"width":0.165359,"height":0.129709}],"images_bbox_not_text_overlap":[{"left":0.09902,"top":0.037689,"width":0.165359,"height":0.129709}]}