COLORADO, USA – Many people agree that a bill designed to expand access to insurance information for non-English speaking Coloradans doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do.
House Bill 23-1004, which took effect January 1, requires insurers to present all of their insurance policies to customers in the same languages in which they advertise. If an agent advertises in Spanish, for example, its policies should be available in that language. language.
It was a push to access the language. But some insurance companies adhere to the law by excluding other languages.
Allstate sent a directive stating that agents are now only allowed to advertise, quote or sell policies in English.
“We wanted more access to the language, and they’re pulling away, which I feel is like they’re not listening to their customers,” said state Rep. Elizabeth Velasco, one of the bill’s sponsors.
Martin Amador, owner of the Allstate dealership, said he was shocked to learn about the bill and the memo that followed.
“I have a staff of six Spanish speakers. So I have a very large staff, so I hired specifically to serve those people in our community,” Amador said. “I would say — on the phone and even people walking into our agency — I would say probably about 40-50% of our business and interactions are in another language. So that’s really impacted my business and how we operate on a day-to-day basis.”
Carol Walker, executive director of the Rocky Mountain Insurance Association, said she has received calls similar to Amador’s concerns over the past month. She said that implementing a draft law like this takes time, and she hopes that the supporters of the draft law will meet again to consider delaying the implementation of the law.
“Insurance companies estimate between two and four years to be able to comply with all of these documents,” Walker said. “We have insurance agents who have built their entire business around serving non-English speaking people. There is a lot of uncertainty in the foreign language bill that will lead to litigation.”
Velasco doesn’t believe insurance companies need four years to comply with the law, but she is open to a discussion to make the necessary changes.
“Even if it was thousands of pages, it certainly wouldn’t take us four years to do the translation,” said Velasco, a former translator. “We want them to increase the accessibility of the language. You know, that’s the goal. If we can get there by providing explanations and adding definitions, we can do it.”
Amador hopes these changes come sooner rather than later so he can continue serving the community that means so much to him.
“I really joined just to help the community, help Latino people like me in the community and teach them and really help them,” he said. “It’s really about identity more than anything else for me, who I am and what I stand for, but right now we’re just trying to maneuver around the best we can and try to help people and do the best we can.”
Both Velasco and the Rocky Mountain Insurance Association said they hope to meet again to flesh out some details and try to figure out the best way to implement these changes.
In a statement to 9NEWS, Allstate’s communications team said: “We want to advertise and offer sales support to everyone in the language of their choice, but recent legislation prevents us from doing so. We are working with our industry partners to find a solution that allows insurers to provide the right assistance to everyone shopping for insurance.” Coverage.”
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