A recent report issued by The National Association of Insurance Commissioners reveals the obvious: the most common three complaints consumers had against insurance companies were (1) delaying claims; (2) denying claims; and (3) inadequate settlement offers. In other breaking news, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.
All kidding aside, these numbers must be put into proper perspective. First, they only involve complaints that were REPORTED to a state's Department Of Insurance (DOI). In other words, somebody had the wherewithall to suspect that the insurance company was treating them unfairly and took the time to report the company to their DOI. So the true incidence of poor treatment is probably vastly underreported.
Secondly, in fairness to the insurance companies, the mere fact that a complaint was reported does not mean that consumers were in fact being treated unfairly. As with any reporting system, some complaints would be legitimate and others would lack merit under any objective criteria.
But I can tell you that the specific top three complaints referenced in the report are not suprising to us. The unholy trinity of delay, denial, and low ball offers made in order to simply "cash out" an injury victim is what makes our phones ring.
And with the advent of dogmatic insurance claims handling procedures based upon computer programs and models that give adjusters little to no discretion in the claims handling process, I don't expect these findings to change any time soon.
All kidding aside, these numbers must be put into proper perspective. First, they only involve complaints that were REPORTED to a state's Department Of Insurance (DOI). In other words, somebody had the wherewithall to suspect that the insurance company was treating them unfairly and took the time to report the company to their DOI. So the true incidence of poor treatment is probably vastly underreported.
Secondly, in fairness to the insurance companies, the mere fact that a complaint was reported does not mean that consumers were in fact being treated unfairly. As with any reporting system, some complaints would be legitimate and others would lack merit under any objective criteria.
But I can tell you that the specific top three complaints referenced in the report are not suprising to us. The unholy trinity of delay, denial, and low ball offers made in order to simply "cash out" an injury victim is what makes our phones ring.
And with the advent of dogmatic insurance claims handling procedures based upon computer programs and models that give adjusters little to no discretion in the claims handling process, I don't expect these findings to change any time soon.
0 comments:
Post a Comment