JTA
July  02, 2004

Joe Berkofsky

Allstate stops blacklisting visitors to Israel; will other firms follow suit

NEW YORK, July 2 (JTA) — Two years ago, Allen Estrin was in the process of applying for life insurance when he took a trip to Israel. Upon his return, Estrin discovered that the Banner Life Insurance Company of Rockville, Md., had denied him coverage based on a single factor: his visit to Israel.

“To deny coverage to someone going to a democracy, an ally of the United States, makes no sense to me,” Estrin, a TV writer, screen-writing teacher and radio talk-show host from Hollywood, told JTA.

Estrin was among those nationwide hit by a kind of insurance redlining in which the nation’s top underwriters refused to sell insurance policies to those who have traveled to, or plan to visit, Israel and other nations subject to U.S. State Department travel advisories.

Read Full Article