Dietz is a former claims supervisor with Farmer's Insurance Group and he's got some interesting things to say about his former employer and the insurance industry in general.He speaks for only 30 seconds, but what he has to say is powerful indeed.
"I used to be an Insurance Claims Supervisor," Dietz begins in a video making the rounds on YouTube.
"When I started out, it was human beings making decisions. Now insurance companies use computer programs to automatically cut 20 percent from what they know they owe on a claim.
"I was forced to use it. You even got bonuses for denying claims. So I quit…
"In Washington State, it's not illegal for insurance companies to delay or deny legitimate claims. They want you to give up. And they're getting away with it."
Of course, this applied to Washington State only and was part of a campaign in support of Referendum 67, an initiative that was launched two years ago by the insurance industry to fight a recently-enacted State law allowing policyholders to claim triple damages if it could be proven that a legitimate claim was wrongfully denied.
The insurance industry didn't want the law. It saw a referendum as the means to heighten awareness for what it saw as drawbacks with the law and they eventually hoped to see the law repealed. A 'yes' vote in the referendum would ratify the law.
Senator Brian Weinstein (D-Mercer Island) sponsored the bill into the State legislature. When Governor Christine Gregoire signed the measure into law, the insurance industry immediately launched their lobby opposing the new law and campaigned for a referendum, which it got.
Referendum 67, which eventually upheld the law, passed in the November 2007 elections.
Supporters of the original law, meant to root out bad faith insurance claims and penalize insurers for stooping to the practice, maintain that the insurance fairness law in the State of Washington levels the playing field.
However, the insurance industry together with the State's largest business groups cried foul, warning about a flood of fraudulent claims and frivolous lawsuits.
In a twist of irony, insurance insiders conversant with current and past practices inherent with the bad faith insurance industry suggest that an attempt to deny, or reduce legitimate claims is an effort by the companies to protect their bottom line, reducing costs while improving performance. And yet the industry funded a campaign to overturn the State law in the lead-up to the referendum that was easily the largest war chest for one side in a state ballot measure, according to an archived story from the Seattle Times.
More than half of the $9.7 million fund for the 'Reject Referendum 67' campaign came from just four companies. Farmer's Group, the company that once employed Richard Dietz, was one of the largest contributors.
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"Everybody buys insurance," he said. "And a lot of people have had not-so-good experiences with their insurance companies."
Sadly, bad faith insurance is a fact of life for many. In spite of paying premiums faithfully for years and never making a claim unless valid, many insurers have been accused of stiffing their policyholders at a time when they are most vulnerable. In Washington, a bad faith insurance claim can, if proven produce triple rewards for the policyholder and a triple hit for the insurer. In general, Americans across the US have found that bad faith insurance finds little sympathy in the courts, when innocent people are harmed without cause. A qualified insurance bad faith attorney could be extremely helpful to you.