Due to the extensive research of Mo Stewart, a disabled female veteran of the WRAF, Unum’s influence and involvement with the government in the UK, namely the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) and Atos Healthcare (AH) are finally being exposed for what it is.
Unum Life Insurance, UnumProvident and now Unum Group has long been involved with the UK’s Incapacity and Welfare programs exerting its influence to implement claims review practices similar to those used in the United States. A major goal of the government in the UK was to engage Unum’s assistance to drastically decrease the welfare budget. As a result, disabled individuals in the UK have also experienced unfair prejudicial claims decisions depriving citizens of much-needed financial support funded by the government.
It has long been known here in the US Unum physicians participated in research projects funded by the UK to discredit Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia as credible causes of permanent disability. Many UK participants have literally been “thrown off” benefits due to Unum’s bias toward CFS and FMS. In the past, the UK has awarded grants in excess of 300,000 pounds to Unum’s research center in Cardiff.
According to Ms. Stewart government propaganda in the UK “has the able-bodied general public convinced that the majority of people in receipt of Incapacity Benefit or Disability Living Allowance (DLA) are mainly “scroungers.” Sound familiar? The concept of secondary gain is often viewed in the UK as a concept imported from America through Unum’s management and so-called researchers.
To make matters worse the government employs the services of Atos Healthcare (AH) to evaluate disability. Apparently, Atos uses computer software (LiMA) to render qualified assessments for disability. LiMA sounds very similar to MDA software used by Unum Group in establishing “recovery dates” for various medical impairments.
Another similarity with America is that the BBC and other media resources in the UK also refuse to report Unum’s influence in attempting to “privatize” through welfare reform in order to take advantage of the overwhelming profit loophole in the welfare system.
According to Ms. Stewart “it is no coincidence that Unum Insurance is about to launch a massive UK media campaign to promote their Income Protection Insurance as, clearly, it has been planned since 1994 as the UK takes another step forward towards the American style health service, funded by insurance.”
Clearly, Unum Group is a “global problem” of significant importance allowed “get out of jail free” cards by governments on both continents. This makes me wonder what Unum’s role may be in controlling American and UK healthcare systems as governments move toward a “new world order perspective.”
In the US insureds and claimants may finally understand why Unum Group is untouchable to the media and federal and state regulators who also take a blind eye toward Unum’s unfair and often illegal claims practices. ERISA, having been eroded by years of court decisions unfavorable to claimants, has provided little protection from abuse.
Many thanks to Mo Stewart who provided her research used for this post. If anyone has any interest in exploring Unum’s influence in the UK, please let me know and I will send additional information you may find extremely interesting.
I agree, Mo has done a great deal to expose these insurance cheats for some time now and did indeed predict the advertising campaign in the UK by Unum and long time ago.
Indeed, direct contact with BBC Radio 4′s Disability Researcher Carolyn Atkinson from myself and others has not been acknowledge.
Dr Stephen F Hall
I wonder what would happen if I gave her a call. Do you have any contact information?
Thank you for your comments, and to Linda for breaking this news on her web site.
Detailed research reports now quoted in the House of Lords in the UK can be found at: http://www.whywaitforever.com/dwpatosveterans.html#documents and the most relevant report about Unum Insurance is identifeid as:
WELFARE REFORM – REDRESS FOR THE DISABLED
I may be contacted via email at: Mozzas01@gmail.com
Mo Stewart
Thanks for your comments.
The research is now being quoted during the welfare reform debates in the House of Lords in the UK and the latest report; WELFARE REFORM – REDRESS FOR THE DISABLED, identifying Unum Insurance’s influence in the UK, can be found at:
http://www.whywaitforever.com/dwpatosveterans.html#report
I may be contacted via email at: Mozzas01@gmail.com
My ‘phone number will not be revealed via a blogsite Linda….
Mo Stewart
Retired healthcare professional
Disabled veteran (WRAF)
Disability activist
I did not request you to reveal your phone number. Sorry you misinterpreted.
i live in the UK and have had the misfourtune to have dealt with ATOS. Thank you for writing about what’s happening,as very few mainstream media outlets will speak out against what’s happening. i am terrified the UK governement is breaking the covenent of trust with National Insurance Contributions and throwing the most vulnerable onto the “tender mercies” of thugs in suits. It’s good seeing others in UK trying to stop this like Mo Stewart, i read her report and it blew my mind and Dr Stephen Hall, as the media will not report, one cannot see whose supoort. The censorship from ATOS makes my support group have to oparate from Iceland as they protect us from being shut down. Black Triangle is also on Facebook. Thanks for posting.
Linda, this may be the wrong place for this material, but you said that you were interested in developments in the UK.
This but it’s a repost of an item on a web site for IFAs in the UK. My translation of this is, “We will use programs like LiMA to produce the results we want. We urge all claimant advocates not to confuse the matter with inconvenient facts.”
http://www.ifaonline.co.uk/cover/news/2126910/unum-urges-ifas-collect-extra-underwriting
Unum urges IFAs not to collect extra underwriting data
Author: Owain Thomas
Cover| 22 Nov 2011 | 15:21
Unum has completed the roll-out of its fully electronic income protection (IP) application and underwriting process that means the vast majority of cases will be processed on the spot.
It expects at least 80% of applications to be decided immediately by the system, including many requiring ratings.
The provider also asked well-meaning advisers to resist the temptation to take extra or unnecessary data that was not asked for during the process as this can slow the decision time.
Linton Penman, head of retail marketing at Unum, told COVER the process was expected to significantly reduce the need for GP reports even for high value cases and meant applications could now be completed online including final signatures and direct debit details.
“It’s not that unusual for life and critical illness, but it’s very unusual for IP,” he said.
“We’re able to do it because have such big portfolio of IP business and can issue the policy about 15 minutes later.
“On paper, taking six weeks is not unusual when requesting a GP report, but the trouble is that a lot of IFAs think that’s the norm, so it’s part of our campaign to get more advisers recommending IP,” he added.
The system has been trialled for some time to iron out creases and improve the questions asked, while also preparing for the electronic signature stage.
However, Penman revealed an unexpected reason for some delays to policies being issued.
“One reason some cases don’t go through is because a lot of IFAs seem very keen to over disclose and tell us about lots of things we don’t need to know,” he said.
“But the software is designed to ask about only the things we need to know about.
“Asking the right questions is our responsibility so just answering the questions honestly will be good enough,” he added.
Penman said he had sympathy with advisers as most didn’t realise they were doing anything wrong when doing this and that they have often been told and trained to do just that.
“We have had quite a lot of situations where brokers ring up where the client had something wrong but the system has not asked about it,” he continued.
“That’s because it was too long ago or didn’t need time off work or another question has already addressed that.
“Overall though, if we have someone with a fairly straightforward medical history the whole thing’s really quick.”
This is marketing and what they excel at.
Unclear if the IFA website will dare to post my comment but I have added one.
Your readers in the UK should be alerted to the fact that the national press will not print anything against Unum fearing litigation from this corporate giant. The gvt know this, so all stories can get reported about Atos but few know about the influence from Unum, now in partnership with THE GUARDIAN of all newspapers !
I’ve been doing some reading lately and I’m becoming very concerned that ATOS and the current disability evaluation system in the UK (has changed recently?) appears to be an excellent example of what is now described here in the US as the “new world order” health insurance system. I’m not what you would call a conspiracist, however, the marketing of the new heath insurance system which includes a central determination of what treatment is allowed for each patient “bumps” off the permanently disabled, aged, and terminally ill from treatment. Again, I’m a novice when it comes to “new world order”, but it does seem coincidental. Something worth watching.
With respect to the recent post, Unum has the American media by the “cojones” when it comes to exposing Unum’s unfair claims practices. It is well known Unum has a powerful lobby with the media which prevents airing its dirty laundry to the public. I thought in a Democracy the purpose of the press was to protect the people by publishing the truth? In any case, I’ve had more than one reporter contact me after the fact to say the story was canned by the editor. Unum appears to get a “free pass” globally.
It was my understanding that the New York Times and, I think, The Washington Post covered the Unum story quite a lot. Is that not correct?
The two newspapers you mentioned did not publish a great deal of information about Unum. However, articles written by The Los Angeles Times hit the AP and were published in some areas. Mike Murphy from the Portland Press Herald wrote several articles but he does not really criticize Unum all that much. The Wall Street Journal did publish several articles as well. All of this publicity took place from 2002 to 2004. Recently, I was told the media just isn’t interested in Unum anymore. I have found The Los Angeles Times to have been the great critic of Unum’s unfair claims practices.