Until Death Do Us Part: Insurance Companies Delaying Claims Until Policyholder Dies

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You may have heard stories of insurance companies jumping through hoops to deny their clients' claims. Many of these stories seem too far-fetched to possibly be true. Yet the fact of the matter remains that many major insurance companies will stop at nothing to deny valid claims; all in an attempt to increase their own profit.


Insurance providers use different tactics in their attempts to avoid payments to their clients. One of the most ruthless methods they employ is simply delaying payment. They know if they wait long enough, many clients will become frustrated and finally give up demanding their rightful payment. This becomes an expensive game of chicken, with the loser forced to foot the bill. All too often, the innocent client is at the losing end.


As if that were not enough, insurance companies have taken this tactic to an all-time low. Some long-term care insurance providers have gone so far as to delay payments to an elderly person, citing artificial and unwarranted justifications. The insurance giants know that if they can delay long enough, the elderly policyholder will die. This is not only immoral, but it leaves the policy holder and family with a mountain of bills; all of which the insurance company should be paying.


Delaying claim payment is not an unusual practice in major insurance companies. The Washington Post recently reported AIG supervisors admitting to taking excessive measures in attempts to avoid payments. Such actions included delaying payments until they were a year old, locking payment checks in safes, and throwing away important correspondence documents.


Insurance companies will use any trick possible in order to delay claim payments. In a recent article in the New York Times, journalist Charles Duhigg unearthed some of these techniques. According to the article, employees of Conseco, a long-term care insurance provider, admitted to intentionally mailing the wrong forms to policyholders. They would then refuse those claims, saying the paperwork was inaccurate. Employees would also attempt to declare claims as "abandoned" if the policyholder did not submit the proper forms within 21 days. Conseco employees even admitted to withholding payments for such a long period of time that policyholders were submitting unnecessary paperwork.


Standing up to an insurance giant takes a lot of time and an unlimited amount of patience. These companies are fully aware that they have the upper hand and will utilize whatever methods they can muster in order to delay and refuse claims. Unfortunately, these shady tactics leave the policyholder with the bill.

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Source by Kenneth Christensen

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