Friday Recap – The Week’s Most Important Issues

(Please note this is a new category containing a weekly summary of issues brought to our attention.)

Despite several Lindanee posts concerning phone conversations with insurance companies, nearly all those who contacted me talked about contacting their claims representative on the phone. From a consultant’s point of view I can only mention, suggest, recommend, reiterate, and post so often about the risks one takes when speaking with insurance representatives on the phone. Unum, for example, has an ongoing company initiative to engage dialog for the express purpose of finding out about daily activities to determine how they equate to work capacity.

Those who follow Lindanee’s Blog on a regular basis are aware we do not recommend verbal communications with any insurance company on the phone. Still, I see quite a few comment posts on the blog talking about “contacting my insurer.” Insureds have the right to request all communications in writing. Anyone who is ill and taking certain medications probably shouldn’t be communicating on the phone with the insurance company anyway. If your disability claim was any other type of retail sale, I’m sure you would insist on obtaining communications in writing.

I clearly understand why claimants and insureds contact their claims reps on the phone when they know they shouldn’t – it’s to obtain reassurance about something; to do everything and anything possible to take away the stress and worry experienced at that particular moment. It’s actually pretty normal for someone to have such a heightened sense of stress and worry that no matter what the risk, he/she must be reassured. Calling the insurance company is the most direct way to calm that need.

While I understand the emotional reasons for wanting to be reassured, I also understand how very simple conversations with insurers can turn into a “chat” resulting in a denied claim. The only time DCS, Inc. recommends a verbal exchange on the phone with insurers is to ask the question, ” Can you please tell me when I can expect to receive my check?” Please think carefully about your phone calls to claims reps and insist on written communications only.

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Although I’m not going to share the actual posts, there have been several Unum employees who took issue with my characterizations of them and their jobs at Unum. I have to say that it might not be a good idea to send posts to Lindanee’s Blog from a @unum.com email address. Unum monitors the emails of its employees. If there are any Unum employees out there reading this, it might not be a good idea to send nasty emails to me from your desk at work. You may get into trouble.

As an addendum – Unum employee comments are generally written to me in an unprofessional manner. Therefore, I usually identify them as spam for blog purposes so that we can maintain a professional and informative Blog rather than an immature chat room.

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Unum’s G4S is apparently contacting insureds by phone claiming all they want is to “have a conversation.” Calls may be connected to surveillance attempts. Claimants need to be aware of G4S and The Hub private investigation services. Insureds and claimants have no obligation to speak to private investigators on the phone. If there is no contractual duty to meet with a field representative, and the insured respectfully declines “the meeting” it makes sense to me Unum’s reps might try just calling to get the same information. Omission of a contractual duty also applies to phone calls with field reps.

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