Why do people hate insurance companies? You get exactly what you pay for. Everything that is convered is explained in the policy, so why do people get made when something is not covered?
I hate insurance companies because you pay and pay and pay for years with nary a claim . . . then, when you file even a small claim, they either raise your rates to beyond ridiculous, or cancel your coverage altogether.
yes yes yes. That’s what happened to me. They talk a good game, but then you have to frikkin’ fight tooth and nail for what you are entitled to based on what they said they would do in the first place when you got the insurance.
Because, quite often, it’s mandatory you deal with one of them (as with car insurance) or it’s a darn good idea (homeowners) and you’ll find just about anything mandatory is hated.
Because you can pay for years, on time, and if you make a 10 cent claim, they’ll raise your rates through the roof or drop you altogether.
Because the ideal for you and them is that you’ll pay hundreds of dollars a month for years and years and never, ever need to talk to them. It’s like banking, except your money probably won’t be there if you need it.
Because they’re often huge, faceless entities, like government, and often about as competent. And as lovable.
Yep yep. Hit one parked car and they label you a bad driver…
I have this tendency to have an accident about every 5 years, just enough to keep me in the high risk category. The wife just LOVES me for it.
I think for the most part insurance companies are alright though, I think the reason most of us feel they are cheating scum is simply the fact that the big ones aren’t just big but HUGE. Then of course there is also the little matter that we Have to carry insurance anymore, not just on our vehicle, but for medical coverage too. Been to a Dr. lately without insurance?
And don’t forget all the industry boo-hooing about the “massive losses” incurred by 9/11, and auto insurers especially crying the blues about how hard it is to make a buck in the business. So therefore the industry as a whole had no choice but to make extortionate rate increases over the last few years.
Yet somehow, they manage to post obscene profits for 2003.
Cry me a river.
I think it was Groucho who said the insurance racket is like renting someone an umbrella, and then taking it away when it rains.
Could have been someone else, though.
What planet do you live on? Guess what, insurance companies make a lot of money. They don’t make that sort of cash by paying everyone for anything and everything. Insurance companies are supposed to refund you money when something bad happens to you, in return for your paying a premium every month. But, they have many people on their payroll who’s job it is to make sure that you never get paid, or get charged more for premiums if they doubt/dislike your claim.
Two short insurance stories. First, I get rear-ended by a friend (in a car, pervert) State Farm says “that damage was $300” I took the check and paid off a student loan. So, I had a slighlt smashed bumper.
One year later, somebody pulls out in front of me (his fault), and when the appraiser gives me the estimate, (State Farm BTW) they say that I have $900 in previous damage. This is the same exact damage that the same exact company deemed to be only $300 when they had to pay me. Needless to say, I complained, but it was pointless. The insurance companies have the last word always, doesn’t matter what’s right, they just always win.
The other insurance story is less sensational. I had one accident which was not my fault, and two claims for breaking and entering, and construction damage. They dropped me because I had “too many claims”. I thought that I paid this company to take care of my claims.
Insurance companies have one goal, to make money. They’ll help you out, but like a loan shark, they’ll make you pay for that help. They suck all around, just in different ways.
Everything’s spelled out? you must be mad. Let me tell you my “everything’s spelled out” medical insurance story.
So. I call my insurance company to verify my coverage for occupational therapy (that’s a kind of specialized physical therapy for the hands) and they tell me I’m covered 90% off all visits, no limit on the number of visits. Groovy.
So now, three months into treatment, I finally get my first bill only to find out that one of my treatments is deemed “experimental” and not covered. Oddly, this treatment (corticosteroids for tendonitis) is not in the least bit experimental. You might even call it standard (my OT is dumbfounded, this claim has never been refused by any insurance company, not even Medicare). Now, in order to avoid $3,000+ worth of payments for my “experimental” treatments I have to enlist my OT, GP and who knows who else in order to mount an appeal to have this treatment covered.
Note when I called them to verify my coverage they didn’t mention any restrictions. Note how it took them 3 months to get me my first bill. (I won’t even get into the unintelligible nature of the bill I was sent. Even the Insurance rep I spoke with on the phone couldn’t understand it.) They are trying to inconvenience me into paying for service that rightly should be covered by them. Hell, no!
Back-stabbing rat bastards.
And don’t get me started on birth control pills. My state requires that insurance cover it, so the Ins. Co. decided they are only going to work with 1 company (Ortho) and if your BCP is made by any other company, you’re out of luck. So, they are essentially using extortion to force you to make certain medical decisions that profit them the most. Rat Bastards.
So that’s why I hate my insurance company.
And you work in the PR department for which insurance company?
In defense of the insurance industry, the do not have people on the payroll whose job are to question, delay, or decline your claim. They have people on the payroll called adjusters whose main reason for living is to be sure you get the quality service you pay for and are paid the claims that you are owed. (Can you tell I’m an adjuster! 
)
Seriously, the rumor about intentionally trying to cheat someone out of their claim is unfounded. The Insurance Departments in all 50 states would put a company that did that out of business very fast.
I handle claims for property and casualty insurance and 99% of the time, a claim gets declined because the customer didn’t buy the coverages that they thought they bought and they never bothered to read their policy. There would be a helluva lot less unhappy customers if they would read what they bought. Most people read an aspirin bottle more readily than their insurance policy.
From an investigative report by a Canadian news show called W-Five:
Very interesting show and article.
I hear this stuff all damn day. You work for company X, you pay premiums to company X for coverage, but company Y provides the actual service for your needs. So, the coverage/copayments for your needs are obviously the clear fault of company Y, even though company X decided exactly what coverage you get.
People love to shoot the messenger everyday in regard to this matter, the sad thing is, that all day every day, company Y has to pretend like they’re the bad guy, even though company X created a shi**y plan for their employees.
Your company provides shi**y insurance, you pay for it, so now the people that provide it for you are basta*ds?
Insurance company Y has hundreds and hundreds of plan options, your employer chose the option that you have a gripe with. Bitch at them, work somewhere else, or pay full price, those are your options. I’m sure that you have the full support of the millions of people that have no coverage at all. :rolleyes:
It took them almost a year to refund the money when my purse and mobile phone got stolen. I HATE insurance companies for this reason. (and it WAS covered in the policy.)
I strongly suspect that insurance companies will deny claims that they know full well are covered just to see if the person is willing to make a fuss about it. Either the claim doesn’t get payed and the insurance company saves cash or the payment gets delayed which allows the company to keep its money making more money off investments longer. Several times I have had claims simply denied with no explanation given and payed out later after a long struggle on my part. Other times I have had my medication restricted to certain size pills. Apparently they expected me to take one and a quarter of my anti-depressant. Ever try to break a pill into quarters? The result was that I was never getting the right dose and suffered from mood swings as a result.
Come to think of it, in my cases it always seems to be medical insurance companies that are driving insane. I’ve never had a problem with my auto insurance company even after my wife had an encounter with a deer.
Oh insurance, how I love thee. Er, wait, no, I don’t.
Five years ago, Mr. TeaElle and I had roughly $12,000 worth of belongings – both of our laptops and a bag with about $7,000 in camera equipment – stolen from our car which was parked in the limited access garage of our apartment building. (We were going on vacation, and the theft happened in the 20 minutes we were back upstairs after loading the car.) In addition to the theft, there was $2,200 damage to the car.
The loss of stuff was dealt with via our homeowner’s policy. The damage to the car was under our vehicle policy, both held by the same company. That meant that in order to be made whole, we had to pay two separate deductibles. Then, over the next four years, we saw our auto premiums raised a total of 13% and our homeowner’s premiums raised a total of 9%. (Even though the homeowner’s policy took a much larger hit, dollar-wise.)
Mr. TeaElle and I moved to a community that is judged considerably safer for the purposes of both homeowners and auto insurance. Our house is on a cul-de-sac, has a state of the art alarm system and our cars are now parked in an integral garage which is wired into the alarm system. That company told us that our homeowner’s premium would jump 27% and our auto policy about 22%. Suffice to say that we moved on. Our insurance company was clearly no longer interested in being the “good neighbor” that their advertising claimed.
The business is a racket. “We’re here when you need us.” But then we’re going to make back every penny we pay you and then some by screwing you over with premium hikes until you roll over and play dead or run away from us screaming. :mad:
I’m actually going to have to speak up in favor of my health insurance company (Japan has nationalized insurance, but I’ve opted to go with a private company. They charge less than the government, and pay back 100%). I signed on with them about three years ago, and in that time I’ve paid $4000 in premiums, and submitted $12,000 in claims, and in that time they haven’t raised my rates once.
In fact, I think the only negative thing I have to say about them is one of their claims agents got duped by the Teddybear virus hoax and sent me (and probably a few thousand other people) a terrified warning letter.
It is all spelled out?!?!
Maybe it is all spelled out - but where? In a master policy book kept at the home office.
Have $50,000 “replacement cost” coverage for personal belongings but soon find out that only $250 in cash will be paid, jewelry over $1,200 requires a special rider… Had about $5,500 in stuff stolen and Allstate says the 50K is just a max limit, you get $1,500.
Seems like everything is a fight.
What do you think the insurance company would say if a policy holder said my car is older and not worth as much so I am only sending you $79 this month instead of the $100 we talked about last year. - Yeah, but they have the chance to end it without requiring the policy holder to perform.
Funny you should mention the ‘good neighbor’ folks…
My homeowners insurance was through them back in Virginia.
My house got broken into and they elected to drop me because I filed a claim on it. A claim that ended up being below my deductible.
And they didn’t even have the guts to just cancel at first. Instead first they sent someone out to look at the damage (minimal). Then I got a note saying they required me to make about $1500 worth of repairs on the house (painting and such) or they wouldn’t be able to continue coverage.
Note that the break in and the repairs weren’t connected in any documentation.
Then I have the work done, call my agent to tell him, and they STILL drop me. I bitch to my agent and he tells me they sent the note to see if I’d switch. That because I filed a claim on the break-in I was moved into a ‘high-risk’ group.
Even the claim adjusters posting here would admit that the goals of the sales side of the insurance company aren’t the same as those of the claims sides.