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WHEREAS, discrimination in insurance based on blindness continues in the face of state prohibitions and a policy of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners to make such discrimination unlawful; and
WHEREAS, with few exceptions, the insurance industry has
failed to cooperate with the states in voluntarily banning discrimination against the blind; and
WHEREAS, Representative Jim Bates, of California, and Senator Charles Mathias, of Maryland, along with many of their colleagues in the House and Senate of the United States have recognized that states alone are not capable of preventing insurance discrimination based on blindness; and
WHEREAS, companion bills introduced by Mr. Bates and Mr. Mathias in the 98th Congress, H.R. 4642 by Mr. Bates, and s. 2775 by Mr. Mathias, call for a federal ban on discrimination against
the blind in insurance; and
WHEREAS, this is needed legislation to supplement state enforcement of the non-discrimination policy in insurance;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind of Maryland in Convention assembled in Hagerstown this 13th day of October, 1984, that this organization urge Congress to enact the Bates-Mathias Fair Insurance Coverage Act; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we commend Representative Bates and Senator Mathias for their steadfast support of the nation's blind and for the effort they are making with us to end insurance discrimination based on blindness.