Elder Law

Standing Up For Seniors Report: Insurance Denials

By Levin & Perconti

The American Association for Justice released a comprehensive new report entitled, ?Standing Up For Seniors: How the Civil Justice System Protects Elderly Americans.? In this post we will consider the devastating effect of many unfair insurance denials.

The report shares the tragic story of a victim of this form of abuse named Rudy. After decades on a farm, raising his children and sharing his life with his wife, Rudy was eventually persuaded to move into a nursing home. His wife had passed away and he risked too much by living alone on his farm.

Luckily, Rudy was prepared for this possibility. Years before he had bought long-term care insurance. He had paid his premiums dutifully and the insurance company at first honored his far-sighted planning and paid the costs of his care. However, after three years the company decided they no longer wanted to pay for Rudy?s care. They sent him a letter explaining that his benefits were being cut off; they used the excuse that his stay in the nursing home was suddenly ?no longer necessary.?

Unfortunately, Rudy?s story is shared by thousands of other seniors who have fallen victim to insurance companies who place profits over fulfilling their obligation to their clients. Our Chicago nursing home attorneys at Levin & Perconti have decades of experiences dealing with the intricacies of insurance companies and their policies. Our lawyers are trained specifically to deal with all facets of the insurance process, from collecting on wrongfully terminated nursing home care benefits to ensuring that claims are properly negotiated.

Unfortunately, many insurance companies have finely tuned tactics to delay paying out on claims?often leaving vulnerable seniors in the lurch. One former insurance company executive explained, ?The bottom line is that insurance companies make money when they don?t pay claims. They?ll do anything to avoid paying, because if they wait long enough, they know the policyholders will die.?

Many companies have also been found to knowingly mail the wrong forms and then terminate payment because of paperwork errors.

Our nursing home attorneys work every day to fight that shameful approach to insurance protection. There is simply no excuse for the scheming means by which many of these companies place profits over proper care. Be sure to contact nursing home lawyers to help fight these practices.

Tomorrow we will continue our look at the new AAJ Report and consider the very common forms of neglect inflicted upon seniors at nursing homes.

Please Click Here to view the full copy of this report.

Full post as published by Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Blog on October 11, 2010 (boomark / email).