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Disability insurance is designed to do
just that - protect you and your family
from an unexpected loss of income due to
accident or illness. Depending on the
type of plan you purchase, a portion of
your lost salary is provided while you
are unable to work due to your
disability. This income helps you to pay
your mortgage, rent, utilities and
credit card bills so that you can pay
attention to what's most important: a
quick recovery. |
What
good is short-term disability insurance
if you have to wait seven months to find
out if you qualify or not?
The whirlwind of difficulties AIG's
actions
(see: chronology of events) have
caused Margaret, will send shock waves
through-out the insurance industry in
Canada. Their bad faith actions will not
go unnoticed. I will fight to get the
laws changed, so others will not be
subjected to the same cruel and malice
practices that Margaret was put through.
Unbelievable as it
may seem, there was nothing legally we
could to fight AIG until Margaret's
claim, was either approved or denied.
AIG with the help of others did
everything possible to delay that
decision for seven months. AIG also
claimed that they were self-insured and
not subjected to the Ontario Ombudsman's
office when we tried to file a
complaint.
If you are a
short-term disability policy holder and
you become ill or injured, you expect
your benefits plan to kick in right
away. You do not want to apply for
welfare, face eviction notices, and
hassles from your creditors and suffer
from the stress of fighting your
insurance company. One way or another,
you are paying for that policy. The onus
is on the insurance companies to act in
good faith. There must be a reasonable
time limit for Insurance Companies to
make their decision regarding cliams
that is enforceable. This would stop
legitimate claim holders from being
jerked around.
From my
conversations with some very good
insurance lawyers, I am under the
opinion that what, AIG did to Margaret
is not an uncommon practice in the
industry. Discouraging policy holders
from making claims is a common practice
that can save companies millions each
year. I asked one lawyer, who was going
to act for Margaret why we did not hear
more about bad faith insurance practices
in Canada. He said "it was because the
court procedures are very complicated
for the average person and when they do
go to court, and the Insurance Company
is on the ropes, they usually, make
an-out-court settlement with the policy
holder to avoid the bad publicity.
Insurance companies are very experienced
while most people with claims are not."
For employees this
is a long shot, but if we don't start
standing up to unethical insurance
companies, there will be virtually no
recourse, as increasingly insurance is
becoming something of a necessity, as we
are forced to pay for it as part of our
employment but have no choice in the
plans. In all cases 'major depression'
is to be treated as a physical
disability. |
