Wrongly Denied Insurance Claims

Baltimore, MDWhen it comes to dealing with insurance companies, some people have the opinion that, no matter what, it is going to be a long, drawn-out process. Insurance companies have not helped themselves, with so many claims of bad faith insurance being leveled against insurance providers. Of course, with so many claims made in a day, there are bound to be some accusations of mishandling of claims, but insurance companies seem the focus of a lot of ire from the public.

That may be because when insurance companies act in bad faith, they are doing so against someone who has already been knocked down. The person who has a disability claim denied in bad faith is already dealing with medical issues and, possibly as a result, financial hardship if he or she cannot work. So he or she is already dealing with a host of other issues, and adding a bad faith insurance lawsuit to the pile only makes the situation worse.

Even before getting to the lawsuit, the claimant has to undergo multiple physician visits, possibly visits to other medical professionals and often submit a mound of paperwork in support of the claim. And sometimes, insurance companies are accused of requesting unnecessary paperwork or claiming not to have received the paperwork and using that as an excuse to deny the claim, even if the patient has a covered disability and has paid faithfully into the insurance for years.

Then there are insurance companies alleged to provide junk insurance, or insurance that is worthless. One such lawsuit was filed against HealthExtras by Arie Waiserman, who alleged he bought into an insurance policy that he thought would give him $1 million of coverage if he were to become disabled. According to Courthouse News Service (1/30/14), the lawsuit claims the insurance was junk and the company was not licensed as an insurance company.

Lawsuits have been filed against some companies in California who reportedly sold junk health insurance. Junk insurance is insurance offered with low premiums but that actually covers very little for the policyholder. Plaintiffs in the lawsuits allege their benefits were improperly denied and the policies were marketed deceptively, making policyholders think they had more coverage than they actually had. Policyholders often learn too late that they are not as covered as they thought, winding up with huge medical bills.