California Personal Injury and Insurance Blog

Disability Insurance Disaster

Suffer through a 15 second commercial and then watch this 6 minute piece from Good Morning America.  As I was told by Chris Cole, a San Francisco attorney, this succintly sums up the problem with disability insurance. This is especially true with disability insurance that you obtain through your employer as a benefit because it falls under ERISA. (By the way, if you have an ERISA insurance issue, there is one man to call: Ben Glass.)

World Malaria Day

First, I know this is off topic. But, its my little way of giving back.

Second, today is World Malaria Day. I know, every day is something day. I think yesterday was World Black Is Not Really A Color Day and Wednesday was World Be Kind to Fire Ants Day. But, Malaria Day is a bit different because, unlike arguing over black or being nice to a fire ant, you can do something to help.

Malaria is the leading killer of children in Africa and every 30 seconds a child died. Thus, while I wrote this post, 2 children died. But there is a solution. A simple insecticide treated net can protect a family of 4 from the mosquitoes that carry malaria for 5 years. The net costs a whopping $10. Now, I am the last to ask any of you to spend money as I know its tight. So, let me propose another idea.

Major League Soccer has teamed up with the UN’s Nothing But Nets Campaign. But, instead of giving money, all you have to do is play a 1 minute online video game: www.NothingButNets.net/game (Normally, I imbed links so you don't see them, but I want you to have this link so you can pass it on to your friends and family.) In the game, you deliver nets to families in Africa. (Okay, I found away around it and you don’t have to actually play the game and can send the net without playing.) You can do it for each email address you have. I have already played 5 times.

I ask that you all take a minute to go to the link and send a net. This is an easy way you can help someone. Over 7,000 people have already signed up. Will you join me? And when you do, please let me know.

Co-Payments Rise for Health Insurance

From the New York Times: A new insurance company practice is putting the squeeze on insured consumers who must take medications to treat serious illnesses. Instead of charging policyholders a fixed co-payment amount, insurers are starting to charge from 20 to 33 percent of a drug’s price for costlier medications. The resulting bill for many consumers can equal thousands of dollars per month.

Copies of Insurance Policies

This is a fascinating topic for me. It came up in the course of an interview I gave to a reporter on a topic. (I will leave that for another time, after the article is published.) We discussed how you get a copy of an insurance policy.

I called the California Department of Insurance. I asked for a policy. After all, they keep them all there. The answer: The DOI does not give you copies of policies. Why? Because they don't know which policy, if any, you would get from a specific insurer.

So, I called some local agents. These were agents for some of the major insurance companies. I asked for a specimen policy. I was told that I could not get a specimen (sample) policy.

It is fascinating to me that insurance companies sell a product but they will not let you see the product before you buy it. Imagine buying a car without test driving it. Or buying a house sight unseen. You would never do that, but insurance companies won't let you see what you buy until after you buy it. Amazing!