Last week it came time to renew some life insurance. Many of you know that our son had a brain tumor a year and a bit ago and so we thought we should ask about insuring him. Our hope was that getting him insured now might help him get insurance in the future as we thought that maybe his surgery would make getting insurance difficult. Well they got back to us with a big "no go" for getting him insured. Once again I was under-whelmed by the insurance industry! It got me thinking about all the other things that drive me nuts about insurance companies. I have been fairly good over the last three years about not using this blog for the rantings of a grumpy, cynical old man but today I am giving myself some freedom. Insurance companies drive me nuts, and the lack of integrity and ethics is almost unbelievable.
I cannot think of another industry that is so willing to take your money (which is in some cases, such as automotive, legally required) to provide a service and then spends so much time and energy finding ways in which they won't have to provide it. I realize that in Canada, much of our medical is covered, but non the less we still live in a day and age when insurance is pretty much necessary for many different things. Of course the insurance companies won't insure anyone that they think they might possibly actually have to pay out on at some point. Why would we ever insure someone that might actually need it some day (yes sarcasm - if I am going to rant I am going all the way)? I have also watched them try to get out of paying up when people have made claims. And then there is the problems you will face if, heaven forbid, you might actually make a claim at some point. They either jack rates or drop clients who ever dare to use the services they have paid for. How crazy is it that auto body repair places are now directly advertising to a market who is looking to be able to repair their car without using their insurance. When people have an accident they are now asking whether or not they can afford to use the service that they have paid the insurance company for. It is now often cheaper to insure our car and then not use it ( in essence paying twice) than to make an insurance claim. What is this Craziness!!
I then have people working in garages telling me that the insurance companies are the worst to work for because they are always trying to cut corners when having automobiles repaired. All this makes me seriously question the ethics of this industry.
Perhaps the hardest pill to swallow is seeing how unethical and cheap they are after hearing about the profits these companies a pulling in. I would be making a great profit too, if I could sell a product or service and then not deliver, or get the government to insist that you use such a product and then, if you dare to use the service, to charge you double the next time.
At the end of the day I have been reminded, that although I may need to have insurance it is no insurance at all. The one insurance that I have, the one thing I will always have with me and that will not leave me and that I can always trust is my relationship with God. Heaven forbid we ever have the hubris to put our full trust in anyone or anything else.
Ok, now that that is out of my system...
Feel free to leave your thoughts... agree, disagree, do you have similar experience or do you have a completely different experience/take? Do you have a story about a great person/company that I need to hear about to change my opinion?
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*insert standing ovation here*
ReplyDeletefrom little car issues (like the time it was broken into and I had to pay to have that fixed - "But I didn't DO it!") to health insurance that doesn't cover everything you need or to the extent you need it... yep. I think your rant was well spent :) that said, sorry to hear that you had trouble with liam's coverage. it's scary to think that we're held accountable for things we can't control (and don't ask for!) definitely a "life's not fair" moment.
Hey Jason, I agree with everything you said. We once had our car broken into and paid the deductible to have the CD/radio replaced only to find out that our deductible was $200 and the repair was only $210 so we probably shouldn't have even made the claim (that's what the mechanic told us afterwards).
ReplyDeleteFor Liam, I'm not really sure I can offer any advice. We didn't even consider how surgery might affect the ability to get insurance later on... Hhhmmm, hopefully Adora will be okay to be insured later as well. I guess we just have to trust that everything will somehow workout :)
Julie Moore