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This is horrifying. Glad you made it out okay. Insurance companies always felt like a Govt sanctioned scam. These companies are the real scammers that thrive b

This is horrifying. Glad you made it out okay. Insurance companies always felt like a Govt sanctioned scam. These companies are the real scammers that thrive by finding grey areas and loop holes to shirk their responsibility. Making this mandatory is just the government whoring its citizens out to these companies. I cant imagine how I'd have dealt with a $20000 hole in my pocket. Come to think of it, I should seriously work on saving up for a "personal insurance fund" that I can draw from in cases of emergencies like this and not trust the insurance companies at all. Your story was a wake up call.

Waterluvian 8y ago
I think it depends on where you live and what kind of insurance it is. In Canada I've had zero problem making claims against health, dental, car, and home insurance. But pet insurance dragged their feet every step of the way on a very obviously valid claim. Definitely have no evidence but my first Avenue of thought is that pet insurance is probably less regulated.
- astura 8y ago
  >Canada See this CBC Marketplace piece on travel health insurance. https://youtu.be/G08phgECt3I https://youtu.be/G08phgECt3I Basically, from what I recall, those medical forms are impossible to fill out correctly and they are used to deny claims.
  - astura 8y ago
    Too late to edit, but after skimming through it a second time, here's the issues laid out in the piece: They make you fill out medical forms that are written by lawyers and for lawyers. Any minor mistake on the form is grounds for denial for any claim. So if you forgot you stubbed your toe 11 months ago, your aneurysm isn't covered. For one man interviewed they used unintentionally undisclosed GI bleeding to deny his claim for a heart attack. Even though his GI bleeding had nothing to do with his heart attack. The form is impossible to fill out 100% correctly 100% of the time. The issues are: -Patients, especially the elderly, a unaware or forget some things in their medical file, or the doctor explains things a different way than the form asks. -You have to read the fine print of all of the definitions because they have "gotcha" clauses, such as the definition of "cardiac treatment" including diagnostic tests that didn't result in any diagnosis. -Travel agents/salespeople give incorrect information to people who have questions about the form, even though they aren't authorized to give any information or assistance. They suggest contacting your doctor if you have questions filling out the form but even if you were a doctor with full access to the patient's medical file, the doctor might still get the "legalese" wrong.
    - mikeash 8y ago
      I can see two obvious solutions to this. One would be to require insurers to prove bad faith when using a form error to deny a claim. Honest mistakes should not result in denied claims. Another would be to have a statute of limitations, where the insurer has, say, three months to find and point out any mistakes, and after that they’re stuck with what they have.
zdragnar 8y ago
While you should certainly have a healthy savings account for emergencies, these stories are always the exception. Thousands upon thousands of claims are filed every day, and they aren't ending up with this level of pain. Heck, when I had a tree fall on my house, the mortgage company was a bigger pain in the arse than the insurance company was to deal with. They came out, took some pictures, asked me to get a quote to fix it, and sent me a check in the mail. Similar thing happened to me with car insurance. And, while I ended up paying more than I would have liked to get my gal bladder removed, that was largely because I bought a high deductible health insurance plan and knew that was a potential outcome.
FireBeyond 8y ago
> a Govt sanctioned scam And in some cases, enabled. Like city ordinances that say you cannot have a trampoline without having homeowner's insurance (though the number of insurers who will 'allow' you to have insurance is dropping - I say 'allow' because some don't say "If you have a trampoline, we won't cover any claims around it", but "If you have a trampoline, we won't offer you coverage at all"). No, I'm not (at all) advocating things like "auto insurance is theft", it's not - I see as a firefighter/paramedic the amount of damage that can be done to innocent third parties (persons and property). But some insurance requirements are rather more the result of lobbying.

Waterluvian 8y ago

I think it depends on where you live and what kind of insurance it is. In Canada I've had zero problem making claims against health, dental, car, and home insurance. But pet insurance dragged their feet every step of the way on a very obviously valid claim. Definitely have no evidence but my first Avenue of thought is that pet insurance is probably less regulated.

astura 8y ago
>Canada See this CBC Marketplace piece on travel health insurance. https://youtu.be/G08phgECt3I https://youtu.be/G08phgECt3I Basically, from what I recall, those medical forms are impossible to fill out correctly and they are used to deny claims.
- astura 8y ago
  Too late to edit, but after skimming through it a second time, here's the issues laid out in the piece: They make you fill out medical forms that are written by lawyers and for lawyers. Any minor mistake on the form is grounds for denial for any claim. So if you forgot you stubbed your toe 11 months ago, your aneurysm isn't covered. For one man interviewed they used unintentionally undisclosed GI bleeding to deny his claim for a heart attack. Even though his GI bleeding had nothing to do with his heart attack. The form is impossible to fill out 100% correctly 100% of the time. The issues are: -Patients, especially the elderly, a unaware or forget some things in their medical file, or the doctor explains things a different way than the form asks. -You have to read the fine print of all of the definitions because they have "gotcha" clauses, such as the definition of "cardiac treatment" including diagnostic tests that didn't result in any diagnosis. -Travel agents/salespeople give incorrect information to people who have questions about the form, even though they aren't authorized to give any information or assistance. They suggest contacting your doctor if you have questions filling out the form but even if you were a doctor with full access to the patient's medical file, the doctor might still get the "legalese" wrong.
  - mikeash 8y ago
    I can see two obvious solutions to this. One would be to require insurers to prove bad faith when using a form error to deny a claim. Honest mistakes should not result in denied claims. Another would be to have a statute of limitations, where the insurer has, say, three months to find and point out any mistakes, and after that they’re stuck with what they have.

zdragnar 8y ago

While you should certainly have a healthy savings account for emergencies, these stories are always the exception. Thousands upon thousands of claims are filed every day, and they aren't ending up with this level of pain. Heck, when I had a tree fall on my house, the mortgage company was a bigger pain in the arse than the insurance company was to deal with. They came out, took some pictures, asked me to get a quote to fix it, and sent me a check in the mail. Similar thing happened to me with car insurance. And, while I ended up paying more than I would have liked to get my gal bladder removed, that was largely because I bought a high deductible health insurance plan and knew that was a potential outcome.

FireBeyond 8y ago

> a Govt sanctioned scam And in some cases, enabled. Like city ordinances that say you cannot have a trampoline without having homeowner's insurance (though the number of insurers who will 'allow' you to have insurance is dropping - I say 'allow' because some don't say "If you have a trampoline, we won't cover any claims around it", but "If you have a trampoline, we won't offer you coverage at all"). No, I'm not (at all) advocating things like "auto insurance is theft", it's not - I see as a firefighter/paramedic the amount of damage that can be done to innocent third parties (persons and property). But some insurance requirements are rather more the result of lobbying.