Don’t you think Madoff would agree that society should throw a financial swindler in jail? I imagine most insurance executives think there should be consequences if they do the same thing. Shouldn’t they agree that claims management practices which intentionally underpay must be punished by law as a matter of public policy? Who would not agree–unless you were part of a system that wanted cheating of policyholders to be "business as usual?"
Insurance companies do not want to be held accountable for wrongful conduct. "Cheat and get away with it"– is the mantra of many insurers. This is wrong and it has to stop.
Honest insurers should push for consumer protection laws that hold dishonest insurers accountable. Do they? Not that I have seen. Only crooks and cheats oppose laws that punish cheating–where is the property and casualty insurance industry?
I know most independent adjusters would support these laws. Company adjusters publicly would as well if they were not subject to termination. The property and casualty industry needs to clean itself up. Honest insurers and adjusters should support penalties when others break rules. As Alex Sink suggested yesterday, there needs to be accountability for those that do not honor insuring promises. Who is against that? I suggest that the answer is only those that break those rules.
Yesterday, I tried to teach public adjusters how to prevent otherwise innocent policyholders from wrongfully inflating claims because they believe the insurer will always try to reduce what is rightfully owed. Two wrongs never equal a right. However, many policyholders lack faith in insurance company claims practices and believe they can’t be straight forward and get paid a fair amount. This must stop. Nobody benefits.
