Pssst! Hey You!
Have you had a bad experience with your insurance company? Are you in the U.S.? Channel that rage into a complaint with your state's department of insurance!
Regardless of what bureaucratic nightmare word salad they go by, state departments of insurance are where to go when an insurance company does you dirty. Each department has its own website, but the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (yes, this is a real thing and it is as disturbing as the name implies) has helpfully collected department information here! Just find your state in the drop down, hit "Apply" and then scroll down to the "Visit Website" link on the left side of the page.
Every department website is structured differently, but they do have some things in common, including a "Consumers" section on the front page. The "File a Complaint" page should be relatively prominent in the consumer section.
***NOTE*** This applies to life, health and property and casualty insurances. Disability and worker's comp are not under department of insurance oversight. For that you have to go Federal.
When filling out the complaint, there are a few things to keep in mind:
1. Complain coherently. I know the temptation to rant and rave is strong, but in this case try to resist it. Present what happened to cause your grievance in an organized manner. You can go chronologically, by specific grievance, alphabetically...whatever. Just make sure you have a system and you stick with it.
2. Details. Give as many details as relevant. If you have documentation, include it. If you have phone call summaries, include them. If you have specific references from your policy documents, do that too. Remember, your customer service rep is allowed to be rude or hang up on you. They aren't allowed to lie to you.
3. Specificity is you friend. Be specific. "I was told by my insurance agent that [CONDITION] would be covered. When I filed my claim, it was denied." or "The policy says [THING] but the customer service rep says that's not how they pay that benefit" or "The advertisement says [THIS], but my claim for that was denied". Each one of those things violates a number of laws and are the kind of thing that make departments sit up and take notice.
4. Save a copy of your complaint.
5. Be persistent. If you don't hear back in the given timeframe, send it again.
Bureaucracy a pain in the ass, but paper trails make the world go 'round. And remember, insurance commissioners are either elected by the people or appointed by the governor. Make your voice heard at the ballot box.
Deny, depose, defend my friends. We'll get through this.
I'm posting a rare non sims thing because being in the US is kind of awful. Please skip if you need to, but if you live here or care about someone who does, this is really important information that isn't common knowledge. You have exactly one way to gain leverage against insurance companies, and it's to sic the government on them. Yes really. OP works in compliance which means keeping track of laws and making sure their company is always in line with them them. Why does the company hire people for that? Because they're afraid of a bad policy causing someone to do what's described here. When the state steps in, companies have to comply. Period. And if they're in the wrong, it's not just a slap on the wrist. They have to make it right, and they're also penalized in whatever way the state determines. You can make bad companies afraid and not even risk arrest.
Reblog to let everyone know that even if you (can't be Luigi) feel powerless and angry, you still have some power to fight back right now until we finally get real change. 💪
