Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Florida Life Insurance Law Lands On '60 Minutes'

Leon County Judge John Cooper on June 30, 2022, in a screen grab from The Florida Channel.
Creative Commons
/
The Florida Channel
Leon County Judge John Cooper on June 30, 2022, in a screen grab from The Florida Channel.

State Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater said Wednesday that a new Florida life-insurance law will be part of a report Sunday on the CBS show "60 Minutes."

The law, signed Tuesday by Gov. Rick Scott, is aimed at helping people receive life-insurance benefits after family members die. It involves requirements for insurers to use what is known as the United States Social Security Death Master File to help find beneficiaries.

In an email Wednesday, Atwater said the law is designed to address what he described as a "disturbing practice" of some insurance companies failing to take adequate steps to pay out benefits.

"With the signing of this bill, the industry's business practices will now have to change," Atwater said in the email.

"The favor has now shifted toward the consumer. This new law will help hundreds of thousands of Floridians gain access to life insurance benefits that they may otherwise never have received."