We were talking about insurance companies in class, I thought I'd share an anecdote. So my boyfriend is insured with Standard Life through work. He was injured in July, and had been receiving checks from the insurance company. In January his work decided that they were changing insurance providers. So, without paying any premiums, he continued to receive checks from Standard Life. However, they decided that they needed a specialist to "help to better assess his condition". So he sees a specialist who does not even examine his injury but asks personal questions about the nature of the pain and his personal life. He promptly receives notice from the insurance that he is fine, and that they will be ceasing payment, and that he must return to work at full time, 40 hours a week including all physical work necessary. He has 2 GPs, 2 physiotherapists, one osteopath, and a physiatrist telling him he is nowhere near ready, but the insurance has closed his file. Even if he were healed enough to to begin working again, starting de nouveau at full force can hurt anyone.
If that want insulting enough,.my father had been on CSST for a year for his back, and the specialist put that in the report, accusing both of them of insurance fraud.
This isn't right! Is it?
Robyn
Robyn,
ReplyDeleteI am sorry to hear about your family's situation, and unfortunately, I suspect there are probably many cases out there. Insurance is a big business, out to make money, and it leaves many people in its wake.
I do not see eleceted officials taking steps to make changes, so I think it falls upom us, the people. I wonder what we can do to change this?
~Angela
Thanks Robyn! It is a good idea to create the adult education sideblog for our class. So can we post about anything or just in terms of adult education?
ReplyDeleteI don't know if the others agree with me but I suggest that you change the colors, it was not really comfortable for my eyes to read through them...but maybe it’s just me..
Back to the topic...insurance companies…personally we haven't experienced any problems SO FAR…Robyn, I feel sorry for what happened with your beloved ones (I remember you told me something similar happened with your dad as well) and I can imagine how frustrating it was… Angela, I don't think we can do anything about health insurance. As for others like car or house insurance companies, perhaps the best we can do is shopping around before making our choice and redoing that before renewing the contract.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI'm just signing in to touch base.
What a frustrating and stressful situation! Do we need to bring a lawyer or doctor with us when we are interviewed by an insurer? Frankly, it's outrageous. I have heard similar stories from clients, and they turned out the same way.
Outrage aside, I know that hindsight it 20/20, but is there a way to prepare for such an interview if we are faced with it? I am not talking about your father and boyfriend, Robyn, since they have already been poorly treated. I am referring to finding out about our rights and the proof a 'specialist' is required to provide when making decisions or accusations. Does such information exist?
I hunted around a bit and found this resource:
http://www.olhi.ca/whois_olhi.html
It's an ombudsman service for life & health insurance in Canada. I wonder if this service can provide any useful info or services.
Take care,
Susan