GwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwD T h e G R E E N Y w o r l d D o m i n a t i o n T a s k F o r c e , I n c o r p o r a t e d Presents: __ __ 55555555555 888888888 _____ ____ _| |__| |_ 55 888 888 // | \ |_ __ _| 55 888 888 || ____ | || | | | | | 5555555555 888888888 || || \ / | || | _| |__| |_ 555 888 888 \\___// \/\/ |____/ |_ __ _| 555 888 888 |__| |__| 55 555 888 888 555555555 888888888 "Confessions of an Insurance Adjuster" by Antone P. Braga ----- GwD: The American Dream with a Twist -- of Lime ***** Issue #58 ----- ----- release date: 03-17-98 ----- [Reprinted by permission from Antone "Tony" Braga's website: http://www.Ppage.net?Tony.B ] Confessions - Equity of Access - You Have A Perfect Right To Know Policyholders possess more power than they think. The trouble is, they don't think. In 1960 I hired on as an insurance adjuster trainee with a large insurance company in Los Angeles. I knew nothing about insurance, just like the rest of us. The millions of people who suffer disasters such as earthquake, hurricanes, fires and floods usually carry insurance, but they generally have no idea what they have coming, even after asking around. Just what are their claim rights, and how do they conceive their damage claims or partake in the process? Nearly everyone has been left out of the loop, partly because it's to the insurers' benefit to leave us out, and partly because most of us would rather hope for the best than prepare for the worst. Even by 1960 standards, my salary hardly existed; that was the catch to being unqualified. But I soon learned my job fairly well and started shopping for a better salary and territory. Working for one insurance company became about the same as the next. I found the work fairly simple, though I did not immediately realize why. In the late '60s I took a part-time job as well so that I could afford something or other that I've long since forgotten. I mention this because the sales manager said something to me one day that jarred me. He said, "Everything has a counterbalance, even insurance." I argued that, as far as I could see, no such counterbalance existed for me. So long as I could make the policyholders happy and at the same time convince my company that I had protected its interest, I qualified as a good adjuster. I was naive, of course. Have you ever tried to conscientiously represent two opposing people in one transaction involving potentially large differences of opinion? It's virtually impossible. You can't split your integrity into two separate parts. Do you think you might end up siding with the party who hands you your pay check, controls your vacations and gives you raises? Only if you are human! Sometime in 1971 I began to feel plagued by my realization that claim-adjusting is one-sided in favor of the company. Yet in theory, the policy language granted plenty of authority to the policyholder. I wondered why no policyholder ever seemed to exercise that authority, and why I'd never met anyone who knew anything about insurance adjusting from the policyholder's point of view. I resolved to fill that niche. The greatest need seemed to be in property claims. You know: your home, boat, car, business, etc. How could an entire population lack even a clue about possessions that are so dear to them? The answer didn't come to me right away, but it's simple really: Out of sight, out of mind. The insurance companies can't be expected to provide their own counterbalance to their policyholders, and the government won't interfere because there is not enough public pressure to do so. What we end up hearing over and over, year after year is, "You're in 'good hands,'" or something similar. In 1973 I heard of a small number of adjusters who represent policyholders instead of insurance companies. This idea intrigued me, especially with the sanction of a state license, so I became licensed. The biggest change in my work concerned my compensation. Previously, I had always been paid by insurance companies. Well, not really. They paid me not from their own coffers, but from policyholder premiums, the same as they do for advertising and their other "expenses." Now I had to earn my living persuading policyholders to hire me. I ask you, which adjuster is more legitimate: one representing the insurance company, yet paid from policyholder premiums, or one representing the policyholder and paid from the policyholder settlement? If you think about it objectively, the insurance company adjuster should be paid from the company's own pocket. Just imagine paying for an attorney who represents your opposition; then that attorney claims to represent you as well in the same transaction; then you pay for your attorney on top of that. That's how it is in the world of insurance. Who wants to know that you can't trust your insurance company? In any case, I heard of a huge fire in Santa Barbara that had destroyed hundreds of homes. I joined forces with two other policyholder adjusters and agreed among ourselves to share expenses and earnings. We scrambled to get business, yet we attracted few policyholders to become our clients. Those who did hook up with us were subjected to all sorts of pressure to cancel our contracts. The Santa Barbara newspaper ran a front-page "expose" of policyholder adjusters. (The paper said we were charging a fee for a service that was not legitimate.) Public officials welcomed company adjusters with open arms and let them past security lines to reach policyholders, while we were refused access. The three of us marched into the newspaper and demanded to have our side of the story told. The paper ultimately printed the story, but well back in the paper and long after the damage had been inflicted. As I walked along a country road about that time, a thought flashed through my mind: If policyholders won't hire adjusters to press their claims, why not enable policyholders to deal with company adjusters themselves? Why not offer them the fundamental information they need, like claim values, their rights and responsibilities, and the adjuster's authority. If I, as the policyholder representative bore the stigma of illegitimacy, surely the policyholders themselves were legitimate and entitled to rights, principles and advice. No one could very well argue that a policyholder in good standing is any less legitimate than the company itself. So I started writing a book for policyholders. I soon found to my consternation that the people who needed the information the most, the victims of disaster, were the least likely to comprehend. And in retrospect I guess I can understand why. Insurance company advertising, financed by policyholders, fosters confidence in the insurance company. A personal disaster, like a fire or flood, is stressful enough without the added burden of learning your confidence is misplaced. The other day, while visiting a law library, I was alarmed to find that in most states, policy wording is being changed so as to favor the insurance company; the policyholders' technical authority (which few policyholders ever exercise) is being seriously whittled away; and many regulations for insurance companies have been changed in the companies' favor. More so than ever, the mere assumption that you will receive what you deserve without knowing what it is you are entitled to, is just asking too much of your fellow man. Socrates never sold insurance, but his words apply to this industry as well as to everything else: "The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance." Tony Braga is a crusader for policyholder's rights who lives in Fall River, Mass. He offers free materials through his website, "Deserve" (http://www.sure-net.com/deserve.html). ----------------------------------------------------------- www =-= http://www.geocities.com/Athens/2334/index.html (The GwD WebSite) http://solice.iglobal.net/chaos/ (Chaos, the Web-BBS) http://www.snakeden.org/ (The Snake's Den) ftp -=- gwd.snakeden.org /pub/GwD/ ftp.etext.org /pub/Zines/Greeny/ ftp.dto.net /pub/zines/gwd/ telnet =-= solice.iglobal.net (Chaos, the real BBS) bbs.snakeden.org (log-on to da Den!) e-mail -=- gwd@geocities.com (Subj: subscribe GwD) BBS =-= The Snake's Den - (806)793-3779 -- damn right it's still dial-in * GwD, Inc. - P.O. Box 16038 - Lubbock, Texas 79490 * -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "If we've learned anything in the past quarter century, it is that we cannot federalize virtue." -George Bush, 1991 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -+- F Y M -+- GR33NY LIK3S mash3d p0tat03s /---------------\ copyright (c) MCMXCVII by Antone P. Braga :FIGHT THE POWER: GwD Task Force copyright (c) MCMXCIII by Lobo Licious : GwD : All rights reserved \---------------/ GwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwDGwD58