Landau Injury Law

A report released Thursday by a consumer activist group accuses the insurance industry of overcharging policyholders and undercutting payments on claims. The report, released by the Consumer Federation of America, says that record profits for insurers can be traced to a systematic strategy of raising premiums, reducing coverage and underpaying claims. Virginia multi-state Lawyer Doug Landau echoes this observation. Frequently this Herndon Super Lawyer shows injured clients and their family members that,

“What the insurance company gives you in the LARGE PRINT at the beginning of the policy, it often takes away in the SMALL PRINT at the back of the insurance contract.”

In addition, the members of the Landau Law Shop litigation teams have seen a “trend toward delay, obfuscation and selling policies that provide inadequate coverage for the families, small businesses and professionals” who regularly consult one of “The Best Lawyers In America” from all over the country. Abrams Landau, Ltd. regularly review insurance contracts for clients and co-counsel, something many lawyers unfortunately leave to the end of a case. The Landau law firm asks clients to bring in to the office in Herndon every insurance policy that may be applicable to an accident, loss or disability so that we can see what benefits may be available to them and their family members.

The Consumer Federation of America’s report said insurers paid out about 55 cents in benefits from each premium dollar collected in 2007.From 1987 to 2005, insurers’ pay-out ratio was at least 60 cents, and in some years as much as 75 cents, the federation’s Director of Insurance Robert Hunter said at a news conference where the report was released.

“A major reason why insurers have reported record-high profits and low losses in recent years is that they have been methodically overcharging consumers, cutting back on coverage, underpaying claims and getting taxpayers to pick up some of the tab for risks the insurers should cover,” Hunter said.

The Insurance Information Institute said in April that property/casualty insurers posted $63.7 billion in profits in 2006, a 19-year record. Results for 2007 are due out in days.

Insurance stocks’ performance has been mixed. The Dow Jones Nonlife Insurance Index — including major stocks such as Allstate (ALL.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Travelers (TRV.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and American International Group (AIG.N: Quote, Profile, Research) — soared in late 2006 to early 2007. A lobbyist for the insurance industry dismissed the report, saying that its findings were baseless. For Full Article, go to: David Drawbaugh, Reuters (01/10/2008):

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 13th, 2008 at 5:24 pm and is filed under Insurance Coverage, Taking Care of Family. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.