Why Insurance Companies Don't Pay Claims And What You Can Do About It
Consumers buy auto insurance and homeowners insurance to be protected from financial disaster. If you are injured in a car accident you will suffer physical pain and emotional distress. If your house is inundated by water you will undergo aggravation and inconvenience. No one can do anything about that. But if you have insurance, at least your insurance company will protect you from the financial consequences of the unfortunate events. That is why you buy insurance: to cushion the blow of accidents and injuries. Your insurance company pays for your medical bills, the repairs to your house, and the other expenses you are entitled to under your insurance policy.
Too often, however, it doesn’t work that way. The insurance company you trusted will delay paying for your loss, deny payment of part or all of your claim, and aggressively defend the lawsuit you are forced to bring to make the company live up to its promise. The reason is simple: The less the insurance company pays out in claims, to you and people like you, the more it makes in profits.
Delay, deny, defend is a violation of consumers’ reliance on their insurance companies. It hurts people when they are at their most vulnerable and it erodes the trust that all of us put in insurance. This book explores where and how delay, deny, defend occurs in homeowners and auto insurance, why it has increased, and what can be done to stop it.
"You pay a lot of money to insure your home and automobile, expecting damage claims to be paid promptly and fairly. That is no longer likely, as Feinman reveals in clear language. His advice on what to do when you file a claim, and how to reform the industry, make this book an essential in every family library."
David Cay Johnston, author of Free Lunch and Perfectly Legal
"Jay Feinman pulls back the curtain to reveal how insurers are systematically and deliberately squeezing America's consumers. Feinman does a masterful job, providing insightful analysis of the property claims process with timely prescriptions to protect consumer rights."
The Honorable Deborah Senn, former Washington State Insurance Commissioner
"As a trial lawyer fighting these battles every day, I can tell you that the insurance industry has mutated from a business that was bound by promise and contract to one of profit-through-deception. Feinman focuses the bright light of truth on an industry that, like the financial services industries it is tied to, has run amok. This is a book all Americans need to read."
John Elliott Leighton, Esq., chairman, The Academy of Trial Advocacy
"Jay Feinman's book shows how, time and again, policyholders with legitimate claims encounter nothing but resistance from insurance companies, leaving people frustrated and angry, and sometimes, destitute. Luckily, he provides some great suggestions about how consumers can fight back. This book is a must-read for anyone who needs insurance to function-and that's everyone!"
Joanne Doroshow, executive director, Center for Justice & Democracy
"Feinman explains how America's premier insurance companies systematically rip off consumers. Do not settle your auto or home insurance claim without reading this book---you could avoid losing hundreds, thousands, or even millions of dollars that you are owed."
J. Robert Hunter, director of insurance, Consumer Federation of America
