Purpose of the Bill

The main purpose of this bill is to enhance consumer protection for senior citizens and disabled persons in Minnesota. It aims to provide them with the ability to recover from insurers under certain insurance policies if they are unfairly denied benefits.

Main Provisions

• The bill amends the Minnesota Statutes to define critical terms such as "senior citizen," "disabled person," "insurance policy," and "major life activities."
• Senior Citizen: A person 62 years or older.
• Disabled Person: Someone with a physical, mental, or emotional impairment that significantly limits major life activities like walking, seeing, hearing, etc.
• The bill provides that senior citizens and disabled persons can seek legal remedies if they are unjustly denied benefits under certain insurance policies, such as disability income and long-term care policies.

Significant Changes

• It allows senior citizens and disabled persons to recover benefits if it is shown that the insurer:
  • Lacked a reasonable basis for denying the insurance benefits.
  • Knew there was no reasonable basis for the denial.
  • Acted recklessly in disregarding the absence of a reasonable basis for denial.

Relevant Terms

senior citizen, disabled person, insurance policy, major life activities, consumer protection, disability income, long-term care policy.