This Thursday at 6 p.m. EST, I’ll be joined by one of the vital revered voices in insurance coverage regulation and client 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 ebook Delay, Deny, Defend, a searing examination of how insurance coverage corporations generally abandon their guarantees to policyholders in favor of income and litigation methods that put on down reputable claims.
After I first interviewed Professor Feinman on the First Celebration Claims Convention again in 2010, the insights he shared have been each well timed and prescient. He talked about how insurers throughout sectors, from householders and auto to life and medical health insurance, have been systematically delaying claims, denying legitimate funds, and defending in opposition to policyholders even when the info have been squarely within the claimant’s favor. The issue, he argued, wasn’t only a few dangerous 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 an alternative 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 dealing with company giants with complete authorized and claims departments constructed with claims processes calculated to push again. The outcome was not solely unfair outcomes for people but additionally widespread social and financial hurt. Households suffered from delayed funds, small companies shuttered underneath unfulfilled claims, and the credibility of the insurance coverage {industry} itself took successful.
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 printed. We’ll additionally dive into a few of the real-world penalties of those claims practices.
Feinman’s work lately gained renewed nationwide consideration following the tragic homicide of the United Healthcare CEO. This was an occasion wherein 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 means, 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 concern, 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 may problem unjust practices. These concepts are as related at the moment as they have been fifteen years in the past and maybe even extra in order new applied sciences and declare dealing with fashions emerge.
If you happen to care about policyholder rights and equity within the insurance coverage {industry}, or just need to higher perceive how the system actually works backstage, I encourage you to hitch us for this necessary dialogue. You’ll hear insights from each the authorized trenches and the tutorial frontlines and are available away higher outfitted to grasp and advocate for change within the insurance coverage claims enviornment.
Don’t miss this phase of the Declare Recreation 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 perspective on this ebook is pro-consumer, however it isn’t anti-insurance.”
—Jay M. Feinman, Delay, Deny, Defend: Why Insurance coverage Firms Don’t Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It
