Page A2 iv,„rinn-tihti n,rrmirk Thursday, August 11,1988
Two N.C. insurance firms
charge blacks higher rates
NEWS DIGEST
Compiled From AP Wire
Murphy
Watson
Brawley
Murphy strikes out against critic
Actor Eddie Murphy has taken out a three-page adver
tisement in a Brooklyn weekly newspaper responding to crit
icism that his new film, "Coming to America," makes fun of
black life. Murphy, in his response, said that the film was
meant for entertainment.
Case sets discrimination precedent
The Supreme Court ruled recently that Clara Watson improper
ly was barred from using statistics in trying to prove she was dis
criminated against because she is black. The ruling makes it easier
for workers to prove their bosses are guilty of illegal discrimination.
S. Africa to withdraw from Angola
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - South African soldiers
prepared Tuesday to withdraw from Angola as part of a peace
accor^ but their rebel allies threatened to fight until they are includ
ed in peace talks.
South Africa.began a three-week pullout of its troops in
Angola on Wednesday under terms of a cease-fire reached with
Angola and Cuba. The accord also sets a Nov. 1 starting date for a
UJM. plan to bring independence to South-West Africa, also known
as Namibia.
N.C. official denies Klan permit
DURHAM - Durham City Manager Orville Powell has
denied a request by Ku Klux Klan members for a parade permit on
Sept. 3, and instead will offer to let them march in downtown
Durham on Sept 10.
Officials in Raleigh, however, today decided to grant the
Klan's request for a Sept. 3 permit. It also appears likely that the
Klan will be allowed to march in Hillsborough that day.
Durham police would be "too thinly stretched" to provide
security for the Klan group on the LabOT I>ay weekend, Powell told
The Durham Sun.
RALEIGH (AP) _ Two North
Carolina-based insurance compa
nies will be asked to alter life insur
ance policies from the 1960s that
force black people to pay higher
premiums than white people, the
state Department of Insurance said
Thursday.
Durham Life Insurance Co.
of Raleigh and Charlotte Liberty
Mutual Insurance Co. of Charlotte
were named in a nationwide survey
as being among 21 companies that
continue to collect on such policies.
However, both say they have
ceased to write and sell them.
The survey was released
Tuesday by the National Associa
tion of Insurance Commissioners.
"(Such policies are) not
expressly prohibited by slate
statute," Ed Bristol, spokesman for
the state Department of Insurance,
said Thursday. "But it appears dis
criminatory,"
Bristol said state insurance
officials plan to meet with the two
North Carolina companies still car
rying the policies to try to persuade
them to alter them.
He said the department also
would ask the Legislature to enact
laws that specifically prohibit race-
based insurance rate adjustments.
According to some actuaries,
blacks have a shorter life expectan
cy than whites and so once were
charged higher rates. How much
depended on the company and the
amount of insurance.
However, most insurance
companies gave up the practice
years ago, relying on other factors
to set rates _ such as whether a poli
cy holder smoked, had high blood
pressure or was overweight.
A spokesman for Charlotte
Liberty told the News and Observer
of Raleigh the company had 5,482
of the policies still in effect in
North Carolina, representing total
annual premiums of $134,547.
But the spokesman could not
say immediately what, if anything,
would be done about those policies.
R. Douglas Pennick, senior
vice president and chief actuary for
Durham Life Insurance Co., said he
did not know how many of the poli
cies his company still had in force.
"I wouldn't think it would be
too many because they are so old,"
Pennick said.”The very newest ones
are 20 to 22 years old. Realistically,
most policies that old have been ter
minated."
He said his company discon
tinued writing the policies in 1964.
The association described the
policies, often called "industrial life
insurance," as those sold to many
low-income, blue-collar families.
They carried face values of about
$500 and up _ but no more than
$2,000. Insurance agents usually
collected premiums in person, gen
erally by charging perhaps a quarter
a week or a dollar a month.
Companies listed in the sur
vey as still collecting fees for the
policies were small, mostly South
ern firms who issued the policies
decades ago when race was a com
mon _ and legal _ factor in judging
the life expectancy of a policyhold
er, said officials of the insurance
association.
However, the association,
which represents insurance regula
tors in every state, recently issued a
statement calling the existence of
such policies today "inherently
unfair and unacceptable as a matter
of public policy."
It called on the companies to
lower the rates charged black cus
tomers, increase their benefits or
issue refunds.
The survey was spurred by a
complaint last year frwn a Delaware res
ident whose grandmother had paid pre
miums for moe than 20 years.
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