How much do you pay for insurance every month? For most families, insurance for your home, car or business is a huge chunk of the monthly budget. After paying your insurance premiums year after year, you shouldn’t have to worry whether or not your insurance company will be there when you need them.

That’s exactly what Referendum 67 says: insurance companies should keep their commitments to their customers. R-67 will be on the ballot in November and simply asks voters to approve the law if you want to make sure insurance companies treat their customers fairly.

If voters approve R-67, insurance companies that unreasonably delay or deny a legitimate claim would be subject to court-approved penalties under the law. Insurance companies that treat customers fairly and pay legitimate claims in a timely manner, would not. It’s a simple law that is long overdue.

Consider the example of Bellingham residents Sara Julin and An Morgan Curry. A severe rainstorm in October 2003 collapsed the roof of their home, causing significant interior damage. Their insurance company, Allstate, paid for the interior damage but denied payment for the roof damage. In order to live in the house, Sara and An Morgan repaired the roof at their own expense.

Later, when Sara and An Morgan found more water damage, Allstate again denied the claim even though their policy said it was covered. Once again, Sara and An Morgan had to pay for the repairs themselves. Eventually they had to hire a lawyer and spend three years to resolve a legitimate claim that could have been settled much earlier for less money.

They had paid their premiums on time and their insurance company wasn’t there for them. It’s a story that gets told countless times in Washington state. The Insurance Commissioner’s office reports getting thousands of complaints from citizens who have legitimate claims, suffered real losses, and yet their insurance companies have delayed or denied their claims. And even though the Insurance Commissioner receives these complaints, he cannot represent individual consumers to get their claims paid.

R-67 is about accountability and keeping promises. R-67 requires that the insurance industry honor these commitments by making it illegal for them to deny or delay legitimate claims. R-67 doesn’t seek to punish every insurance company — just those few bad apples that aren’t playing fair.

R-67 is reasonable. The reality is that this is a reasonable, long-overdue effort. We are one of only five states without laws to protect our citizens from being treated unfairly by their insurers. In fact, R-67 has garnered the endorsements of Gov. Chris Gregoire, Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler and more than 85 organizations, including seniors, nurses, teachers, firefighters and even lawyers, like me.

I hope you will join myself and these organizations in voting to approve R-67. After all, you pay your premiums. They should keep their promises.