Insurance Company Playing Games – Get An Insurance Attorney

Insurance Attorneys in Weatherford, Mineral Wells, Aledo, Springtown, Azle, Brock, Millsap, Willow Park, Hudson Oaks, and other places in Parker County need to understand the games insurance companies play on their insureds.
Any attorney who has been practicing for very long has heard stories that are disgusting. Insurance companies consider insurance a bet, and guess what, … it is. The insurance company is betting you will not have a loss they have to pay for. You are betting that you might have a loss and want protection in case it happens. When an insured makes a claim, the insurance company is losing its bet. Insurance companies do not like losing their bets. As a result, they will find any way they can to keep from paying the claim or to reduce the amount of money they have to pay on the claim.
The consumer protection group, Texas Watch, published an article recently titled, “Insurance Myth #2: Insurance Companies Always Pay Claims Fully And Promptly.” Well, not exactly!
The article tells us that when we purchase insurance, we’re buying a promise on a piece of paper. Boiled down, it’s a contract, an insurance contract. We uphold our end of the bargain by paying our hard-earned dollars for premiums, and we expect that insurance companies will uphold their end by paying our claims if tragedy strikes. Too often, however, insurance companies betray the trust of vulnerable policyholders. And vulnerable is the right word when making a claim. Not content to just profit off of the gains they reap when they invest our premiums — using our money to fund their stock portfolio — insurance companies have turned claims into an additional profit center by using “delay, deny, and defend” tactics. These bad faith practices are an illegitimate way for insurance carriers to pick their policyholders’ pockets.
The global corporate consulting giant McKinsey & Company showed the way. McKinsey advised insurance giant Allstate, which markets itself as the “good hands” company, to give policyholders who sought to receive full value for their claim the “boxing gloves” treatment. McKinsey devised a scheme to intentionally and needlessly delay the claims process, deny that the policy covered the claim, and frivolously defend even minor claims in court. By dragging out the claims process and engaging in scorched-earth litigation tactics, insurers would be able to personally benefit by holding on to premium dollars for longer, giving them more time to profit off of investment gains in the stock market, which is commonly known as “the float” in insurance circles.
And by pummeling their policyholders, insurers would also exploit their customers’ financial vulnerability after a loss, ultimately resigning them to take pennies on the dollar as a settlement. Delay increases the pressure for a policyholder to settle for little, and less money paid out for claims equals more dollars in the insurance companies’ pockets. This is the same mindset that led the big insurer Unum to recognize their employees who were most aggressive in denying claims with their “Hungry Vulture Award.” Folks, you can’t make this stuff up.
The only thing that stands between policyholders being victimized twice – once by the loss and again by their greedy insurer – are strong bad faith insurance laws that punish and deter these despicable practices. The vulture culture displayed by insurance companies threatens the financial security of middle and working class Texas families, and it has to stop. Here’s a few things you can do:
1) Know your rights: Read the Consumer Bill of Rights for Texas homeowners and auto policyholders.
2) Make a complaint: The Texas Department of Insurance probably won’t help to resolve your complaint with an abusive insurance company, but at least the company’s behavior will be recorded. This can be powerful information for an Insurance Law Attorney suing that insurance company.
3) Seek an experienced Insurance Law Attorney: If you suspect an insurance company is low-balling or stonewalling you, get the advice of an attorney who is experienced in insurance bad faith law. The insurance company has its own army of lawyers, and it isn’t a good idea to walk into a gunfight unarmed.
There are already a few laws that are good ammo for fighting insurance companies. One of these laws is the “Prompt Payment of Claims Act.” You just need to to get an insurance attorney to help you enforce this law.