the original article

July 25, 2012

Since 1999 I have been experiencing a wakeup call. Not unlike the Tea party Movement that would take place about seven years later. November 1, 1999 I experienced the first of 3 auto accidents and an elevator accident. I was seriously injured in the 1999 and 2008 accidents, then again in the elevator accident. I had the naïve notion that should I experience an auto accident in which I was injured my insurance would cover the experience.

The November 1, 1999 event started a series of incidences that would unveil how corrupt and complicated the auto insurance industry is, as the books the Vulture Culture and Delay, Deny, Defend would reveal later in 2010. About a year after the 1999 accident I came across writing by Richard E. Stewart. He wrote in 1978 what I was living through and some of what the other two books would cover more extensively. They all emphasized the need for reform. Not just lowering payments.

I was well insured by Farmers who started to pay along the no fault lines the state of Colorado had at that time but after a few weeks they started some delay tactics then denial. I contacted several attorneys in Colorado Springs, Co. One after another said they would not take my case, reasons being- El Paso County was too conservative and settlements were low, my case was complicated and that an attorney would not make enough money off of me.

During this time the thought that these companies are using our money to support a system that is complicated and corrupt instead of stewarding our money for the benefit of its supporters kept coming to my mind. I kept thinking – But It’s Our Money! Sounds like the outcry of the Tea Party movement. Then the question – why are we allowing this?

Colorado would change from the no-fault system to the tort system. This would establish an even greater no win situation for the consumer, essentially, defrauding the American middleclass. Also auto insurance would become mandatory. It is a form of taxation. Sounds a little like Obamacare to me. Now in all 50 states, auto insurance is mandatory. There are also punitive laws now for not having insurance.

Again it’s our money!

Some thoughts and questions!

·         Are insurance agents still paid a commission off of mandatory payments?

·         Lawyers scam the system making everything complicated. It’s our money!

·         Adjusters (claim representatives) make decisions managing our money based on computer programs and company profits as well as their own benefit. Special favor and awards-like the Vulture award (State Farm) are given out to employees.

·         Medical personnel are paid to minimize physical consequences of injuries endangering the welfare of victims. Bottom line they lie.

·         Then there are those who use the vehicle as a weapon to cause an accident with monetary gain as their motive. This is criminal. There seems to be no thought of the consequences of injury or the possibility of manslaughter.

·         Why do these insurance companies spend so much on advertising when insurance is mandatory?

Our money supports this!  Why are we allowing this?

The cost to the medical field is huge when an insurance company does not pay the medical bills they are required to pay. In the tort system one’s own insurance pays the medical. A lien is placed on any settlement. In my case there have been no settlements. In the 2008 accident State Farm offered a measly $42,000 with an initial medical bill of $25,000 which was covered by Medicare. I asked the attorney I hired-what would happen when Obamacare stepped in and my injuries from the accident would be considered preexisting should I live. Would this become a decision of some review board? His response was that Obamacare would not step in until 1014. Maybe he thought I would not be around by then.

We pay coming and going.

I read this statement in one of the writings. “Pursuing an insurance claim is like running a marathon on a stretcher with IV’s.” In my case it has been worse.  The system was set up to insure recovery not hinder or prolong it or even destroy the chances of recovery.

Yes, there is fraud against the insurance companies but I suspect that it is nowhere near what the companies claim. The real fraud is toward the real victims of vehicular crime. For example in situations where someone runs a red light, drugged and drunk or setting up accidents or neglecting to post warning signs of dangerous, faulty equipment and the insurance company delays, denies or forces a claimant to defend. Then there are waste and other forms of mismanagement of our money.

Who defrauds who?