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Greeny World Domination 058

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Published in 
Greeny World Domination
 · 5 years ago

  

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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:
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// | \ |_ __ _| 55 888 888
|| ____ | || | | | | | 5555555555 888888888
|| || \ / | || | _| |__| |_ 555 888 888
\\___// \/\/ |____/ |_ __ _| 555 888 888
|__| |__| 55 555 888 888
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"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).

-----------------------------<GwD Command Centers>------------------------------

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

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