For years, the insurance companies and their paid lobbyists have spent millions of dollars on public relations campaigns to make the phrase “frivolous lawsuit” a part of our vocabulary.As a result of the insurance industry’s systematic public relations campaign, potential jurors view every personal injury lawsuit as “frivolous”; the injured people who file a lawsuit– “cheats or scammers”; and the trial lawyers who represent them – “greedy” or “ambulance chasers.”Never before has our country seen an industry spend so much money so effectively to destroy a right that was guaranteed by our Founding Fathers. That is the right to have our civil disputes decided fairly and justly by a jury of our peers.As a result, statistics show that most lawsuits get dismissed and, for those that are not, the injured men, woman and children leave the courtroom without adequate compensation to care for the injuries inflicted upon them by wrongdoers. The insurance company lawyers do not need facts or evidence to win, they merely have to say, “here’s another frivolous lawsuit” and jurors respond as though they have been conditioned to respond by the insurance companies.
But, you never hear about “frivolous defenses.”Each year, there are hundreds of thousands of claims that are wrongfully denied. Despite the economic hardships every American is facing, insurance companies continue to use tactics that highlight their true colors.These tactics range from the denial of reasonable claims, creating confusing, all the way to delaying claims until the customer dies.
The tactics insurance companies use against consumers include:
·Denying Claims: Some of the nation’s biggest insurance companies – Allstate, AIG, and State Farm among others – have systematically denied valid claims in an attempt to boost their bottom lines. These companies have rewarded employees who successfully denied claims, replaced employees who would not, and when all else failed, engaged in outright fraud to avoid paying claims.
·Delaying until Death: Many insurance companies routinely delay claims, even going as far as to lock paperwork in safes, knowing full well that many policyholders will simply give up. In the words of one regulator, “the bottom line is that insurance companies make money when they don’t pay claims… They’ll do anything to avoid paying, because if they wait long enough, they know the policyholders will die.”
·Confusing Consumers: Insurance contracts are some of the densest and incomprehensible contracts a consumer is ever likely to see. More than half of all states have enacted “plain English” laws for consumer contracts, yet many Americans still do not fully understand the risks they are subject to.
·Discriminating By Credit Score: Insurance companies are increasingly using credit reports to dictate the premiums you pay, or whether you can even get insurance in the first place. The practice penalizes senior citizens with little credit, those who responsibly pay bills every month with cash or check, or those who have suffered financial crisis through no fault of their own.
·Abandoning the Sick: Health insurers looking to cut costs have taken to retroactively canceling, or rescinding, the policies of people whose conditions have become expensive to treat. Some insurance companies have even offered bonuses to employees who meet “cancellation goals” – cancer patients in the middle of chemotherapy have even been targeted.
·Canceling for a Call: Many people are rightly reluctant to make small claims on their home insurance for fear their insurance company will raise their premiums. But few realize that insurance companies often refuse to renew a policy just for making a phone call. Often, an insurance company will count an inquiry over the phone as the same as a claim, and then they will do everything in their power to drop you.
The insurance industry is a multi billion-dollar industry – with more money than most countries.With insurance companies not holding up their side of the deal, expect even the most miniscule claim to be a painful and aggravating process.In order to improve your bargaining power, you should always consider hiring legal representation to help you with your insurance claims.
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