Insurers Must Pay Out For Coronavirus Closures, Lawmaker Argues

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK — Insurance companies should put their $900 billion in reserves toward paying out New York businesses' coronavirus closure costs, argued a Brooklyn lawmaker.

Assembly Member Robert Carroll recently introduced a bill mandating that coronavirus closures be covered by insurance policies covering lost business.

He co-authored an op-ed this week with a Manhattan restauranteur Jeff Katz laying out how Katz had to lay off his staff because of state orders amid coronavirus. Insurance companies claim their policies don't cover restaurants like Katz's, the op-ed states.

"The insurers who now claim their policies don't cover novel coronavirus made the same argument about not covering losses after 9/11," the op-ed states. "America may be facing multiple 9/11s, and the insurers are sitting on $900 billion in reserves.

"It's time they pay up, and if they don't New York state should make them."

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Carroll represents Park Slope, Windsor Terrace and Kensington. Numerous Park Slope bars and restaurants have had to shut down or significantly scale back to abide by measures intended to stop the new coronavirus.

His op-ed argues that federal loans included in the stimulus aren't enough for many businesses to restart operations. More than 25,000 sit-down New York City have closed and lost a combined $2 billion in a month, it states.

New York should protect business owners and make insurers pay up, the op-ed argues.

"If it doesn't, when once again we are allowed to congregate, there won't be anywhere to go," it states.

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