Insurance Industry Continues The Same Old Games Putting Profits Before Patients and Insureds’ Interests - Experienced Injury Lawyer Speaks Out
Approximately one year ago, The American Association For Justice released a report citing the 10 worst insurance companies in American noting how insurance companies raised premiums, denied claims and refused insurance to those who need it most. With healthcare insurance reform on the horizon, former head of Public Relations for Cigna, one of the nation’s largest insurance companies decided to speak out against the industry. Bill Potter told Bill Moyers, “I did not intend to speak out until it became clear to me that the industry is resorting to the same tactics they have used over the years particularly back in the 90's when they began leading the efforts to kill the Clinton healthcare plan.” Potter explained that the insurance industry has been corrupted by Wall Street expectations and greed and that insurance companies have every incentive to deny coverage - every dollar they don’t pay out to a claim, is a dollar they can add to their profits and Wall Street investors demand that insurance companies pay out less every year.
As an experienced personal injury and insurance claims attorney who has been fighting insurance companies aggressively since 1979, I am all too familiar with the “boxing gloves” strategy used by insurance companies against their policyholders. Common insurance company practices of unfairly defending, denying and delaying claims has reached a crescendo. It appears to this experienced insurance claims lawyer that the insurance companies have hijacked the public and are now attempting to hijack the government, trade associations and insurance industry finance coalitions, many of which are nothing but fund groups for insurance companies. I have met with lobbyists and physicians who are “scared to death” about the future of healthcare reform and are very active in behind the scenes PR and lobbying campaigns to kill or weaken healthcare reform efforts.
In our law practice, more and more we deal with an increasing amount of people who are uninsured or who cannot afford insurance to the point where I have written many blogs before noting the uninsured epidemic or pandemic. More and more, injured and sick people are unable to go to the doctor or purchase prescriptions because of the cost of insurance for medication. Many individuals and families have been forced into bankruptcy. I have always felt that if insurance companies had done the right thing and placed their insureds’ fiduciary interests before their own profitability, then I would not have a job as an insurance claim lawyer.
Many insurance companies have corporate training manuals explaining how to avoid payments and deny claims and in fact, bonuses have been awarded to adjusters. I have always felt that the greed of corporate executives has driven this country to the brink of financial disaster. I am quite frankly sick of misleading information that the greedy insurance company executives propound upon the American public. It is time for all of us to take responsibility for what is right for our country and fellow citizens. The insurance industry as it exists today is a racket. Any plain fool can see the insurance industry has so much cash they can literally buy the politicians and promote an effective counter campaign to health reform as well as other insurance industry.
According to news sources, the U.S. insurance industry takes in over $1 trillion dollars in premiums annually and has $3.8 trillion dollars in assets. More than the GDPs of all but two countries in the world. Over the last 10 years, the insurance industry has enjoyed average profits of over $30 billion dollars a year and the life and health side of the insurance industry has averaged another $30 billion. The CEOs of the top 8 casualty firms earn an average of $8.9 million dollars in 2007 and the CEOs of the top 10 life and health insurance companies earned even more - an average of $9.1 million dollars. The citizens of America deserve much better.
The law firm of Reiff and Bily is a catastrophic personal injury law firm focused on protecting consumers rights and has been aggressively fighting insurance companies since 1979 standing up for what we believe is right. Without integrity you have nothing. We are lawyers greedy for justice.
