INSURANCE CLAIMS -- SO WHO IS REALLY "ON YOUR SIDE?"
April 01, 2010 @ 05:51 PM — by SEO Admin
Allstate says you are "in good hands." State Farm wants you to believe they are "like a good neighbor" and Nationwide "is on your side." They all want to create the illusion that they are your best friend and will be there for you when you need them the most.
But whose side are the insurance companies really on? According to published reports, State Farm's Chief Executive Officer was paid $9.4 million in compensation in 2009, down from $13.7 million in 2008, affected by the financial results of 2008. Reports also show that State Farm enjoyed $777 million in profit in 2009. State Farm is currently ranked 31 on the Fortune 500 list, ahead of huge companies like Walt Disney, PepsiCo and Microsoft. Yet, they have filed for an average 9.2 percent rate hike on auto policies, dropped over 100,000 homeowner policies in the State of Florida and are seeking to increase rates on the remaining homeowners policies in Florida by 14.8 percent.
So how do these insurance companies and their executives make such enormous sums of money--by paying as little on claims as possible. Under Florida law, they have the right to send a claimant to what is known as an "independent medical examination." However, those examinations are anything but "independent." We refer to them as "compulsory" medical examinations. The insurance companies repeatedly hire the same doctors--doctors that they know will give them a favorable report. We've seen many, many examples of insurance companies paying $1,000 - $2,000 for a medical examination of our clients, and sometimes even more. Our experience shows that these exams, on average, last approximately 10-15 minutes. Typically, they never agree with the records and reports of the client's treating physicians who have seen the clients many times. However, even though the insurance company paid a significant amount of money to get a favorable report from a doctor, they can use those reports to terminate Personal Injury Protection benefits and to attempt to reduce the value of bodily injury liability and uninsured/underinsured motorist claims.
Just like our office knows which insurance companies and adjusters evaluate claims more fairly, insurance companies know which attorneys aren't intimidated by big insurance companies and aren't afraid to file a lawsuit and take the case to trial.
But whose side are the insurance companies really on? According to published reports, State Farm's Chief Executive Officer was paid $9.4 million in compensation in 2009, down from $13.7 million in 2008, affected by the financial results of 2008. Reports also show that State Farm enjoyed $777 million in profit in 2009. State Farm is currently ranked 31 on the Fortune 500 list, ahead of huge companies like Walt Disney, PepsiCo and Microsoft. Yet, they have filed for an average 9.2 percent rate hike on auto policies, dropped over 100,000 homeowner policies in the State of Florida and are seeking to increase rates on the remaining homeowners policies in Florida by 14.8 percent.
So how do these insurance companies and their executives make such enormous sums of money--by paying as little on claims as possible. Under Florida law, they have the right to send a claimant to what is known as an "independent medical examination." However, those examinations are anything but "independent." We refer to them as "compulsory" medical examinations. The insurance companies repeatedly hire the same doctors--doctors that they know will give them a favorable report. We've seen many, many examples of insurance companies paying $1,000 - $2,000 for a medical examination of our clients, and sometimes even more. Our experience shows that these exams, on average, last approximately 10-15 minutes. Typically, they never agree with the records and reports of the client's treating physicians who have seen the clients many times. However, even though the insurance company paid a significant amount of money to get a favorable report from a doctor, they can use those reports to terminate Personal Injury Protection benefits and to attempt to reduce the value of bodily injury liability and uninsured/underinsured motorist claims.
Just like our office knows which insurance companies and adjusters evaluate claims more fairly, insurance companies know which attorneys aren't intimidated by big insurance companies and aren't afraid to file a lawsuit and take the case to trial.