This Thursday at 6 p.m. EST, I’ll be joined by one of the vital revered voices in insurance coverage legislation and shopper safety, Professor Jay Feinman, for what guarantees to be a thought-provoking podcast dialog. Feinman, a Distinguished Professor of Legislation at Rutgers College, is the creator of the nationally acknowledged guide Delay, Deny, Defend, a searing examination of how insurance coverage firms generally abandon their guarantees to policyholders in favor of earnings and litigation methods that put on down authentic claims.
Once I first interviewed Professor Feinman on the First Social gathering Claims Convention again in 2010, the insights he shared had been each well timed and prescient. He talked about how insurers throughout sectors, from householders and auto to life and medical health insurance, had been systematically delaying claims, denying legitimate funds, and defending in opposition to policyholders even when the information had been squarely within the claimant’s favor. The issue, he argued, wasn’t only a few unhealthy actors or remoted incidents. As a substitute, it was an industry-wide sample pushed by the shift from policyholder service to shareholder revenue.
Feinman defined how this shift eroded the core mission of insurance coverage: to supply peace of thoughts and monetary safety. Many insurers as a substitute adopted a mannequin that weaponized the complexity of insurance coverage claims and created an imbalance favoring denial and decrease funds. Policyholders, typically unfamiliar with the nuances of protection and course of, discovered themselves going through company giants with total authorized and claims departments constructed with claims processes calculated to push again. The end result was not solely unfair outcomes for people but in addition widespread social and financial hurt. Households suffered from delayed funds, small companies shuttered below unfulfilled claims, and the credibility of the insurance coverage {industry} itself took a success.
Our dialog this Thursday will revisit these points and discover what, if something, has modified within the fifteen years since Delay, Deny, Defend was first revealed. We’ll additionally dive into a number of the real-world penalties of those claims practices.
Feinman’s work just lately gained renewed nationwide consideration following the tragic homicide of the United Healthcare CEO. This was an occasion by which the suspect allegedly cited the phrase “delay, deny, defend” as a part of a motive and justification for the killing. Whereas this horrible act can’t be justified or excused in any method, it highlights the deeply emotional and generally explosive penalties that may come up when individuals really feel cheated by an insurance coverage system that’s supposed to guard them.
Feinman’s works don’t simply critique the insurance coverage system. Regardless of the challenge, he provides significant options. In our earlier dialogue, he proposed elevated transparency in coverage phrases and declare procedures, enhanced regulatory oversight, and stronger avenues for accountability in order that policyholders might problem unjust practices. These concepts are as related immediately as they had been fifteen years in the past and even perhaps extra in order new applied sciences and declare dealing with fashions emerge.
In case you care about policyholder rights and equity within the insurance coverage {industry}, or just wish to higher perceive how the system actually works backstage, I encourage you to affix us for this necessary dialogue. You’ll hear insights from each the authorized trenches and the educational frontlines and are available away higher outfitted to know and advocate for change within the insurance coverage claims area.
Don’t miss this section of the Declare Sport this Thursday at 6 p.m. EST. Mark your calendar and be a part of the dialog. Right here is the hyperlink to register.
Thought For The Day
“The viewpoint on this guide is pro-consumer, however it’s not anti-insurance.”
—Jay M. Feinman, Delay, Deny, Defend: Why Insurance coverage Corporations Don’t Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It
