In general, car insurance claims are filed after a person is involved in a vehicular accident. It could be from one that you caused, or that was caused by “the other guy”. Once in a while, you hear about some really crazy sounding auto insurance claims. It makes me wonder what these people were thinking. Not everyone has a good understanding about what their auto insurance policy will, and will not, cover. For some reason, this is one type of insurance that people tend to make assumptions about. Typically, they tend to expect that their assumptions are precisely what their … Continue reading →

Three million people lost power to their homes due to the snowstorm that hit the Northeast. Power outages tend to create situations that result in insurance claims. People need to know which policy to send the claim to, and what types of damages could be covered. This week, many families have been focused on how they are going to celebrate Halloween. Extra purchases at the grocery store probably included things like last minute additions to Halloween costumes, and bags of candy to hand out to all those trick-or-treaters. I doubt anyone was planning on what to do in case Halloween … Continue reading →

Every once in a while, public outrage has an effect on the decisions made by insurance companies. An insurer has decided to reconsider its original decision to deny the claims of a social worker who was injured as a result of the tornado in Joplin, Missouri. Mark Lindquist is a social worker. When the tornado hit Joplin, Missouri, on May 22, 2011, he was doing his job. He, and another social worker, drove to a group home in order to help out three men who lived there, (and who had Down Syndrome). The home did not have a basement, so … Continue reading →

Workers Compensation is designed to cover the cost of medical treatment that a person requires after becoming injured while on the job. An insurer in Missouri is refusing to cover the medical bills of a social worker who was injured by a tornado while doing his job. This leaves the worker with $2.5 million in medical bills. No one becomes a social worker “for the money”. This line of work often includes low pay, long hours, and high levels of stress. The people who choose a career as a social worker are doing it because they truly want to make … Continue reading →

The Michigan Supreme Court will hear a case that has been appealed by an insurance company. The previous case ruled that the insurer should pay money to a mother who witnessed her son’s death as he rode his motorcycle back from a wedding. The insurer doesn’t think it should have to pay this claim. In 2007, a woman named Gale Boertmann was in a car behind her son, Chris Boertmann. He was driving a motorcycle. Another vehicle struck the motorcycle, and this accident resulted in the death of Chris Boertmann. Tragically, this means that Gale Boertmann witnessed the death of … Continue reading →

Pumpkins are the quintessential decoration for Halloween. Their popularity at this time of year can lead to all sorts of problems, and even some crimes. Fortunately, certain types of insurance policies can help you recover pumpkin related losses. Halloween is in October. People across the United States have started decorating their porches with pumpkins that have been carved in a variety of scary, spooky, and creepy designs. Put a lit candle inside each pumpkin, and you have a holiday appropriate lighting system that can prevent little trick-or-treaters from tripping on the stairs as they rush to your door. What if … Continue reading →

Watson is an extremely smart computer. You may have seen Watson when the computer was a contestant on the game show “Jeopardy!”. Now that the game is over, Watson has been offered a job analyzing insurance claims, and suggesting health treatments. Watson was created by IBM. It is an artificial intelligence computer that can answer questions that are posed to it in “natural language”. In other words, it is designed to answer questions that are worded in the way that people normally would speak. Watson is named after IBM’s first president, Thomas J. Watson. You may have seen Watson when … Continue reading →

When an accident happens, injured people tend to end up in the Emergency Room of the closest hospital. No matter what the nature of the injury is, there is a specific code that needs to be entered on the form that goes to the person’s insurance company. There really is a code for a paintball injury. According to estimates by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, there are an average of 56 visits every day to Emergency Rooms all across the United States due to an injury that was caused by a BB gun, a pellet gun, or … Continue reading →

The Supreme Court in Montana has been asked to hear a case about privacy rights and workers’ compensation. Lawyers are arguing that fraud investigators have shared confidential information with people who didn’t have the right to see it. They want the court to put a stop to that practice. Instances of fraud can take place with every type of insurance. The general perception seems to be that people who file a workers’ compensation claim are probably doing it fraudulently. However, this does not mean that each and every person who files a workers’ compensation claim is committing fraud. There are … Continue reading →

A court in Florida has made a determination about exactly what the “household exclusion” clause in automobile policies refers to. This is the result of a court case where a car accident occurred that injured the parents of a woman who was driving her grandmother’s vehicle. This is one of those situations where car insurance gets really confusing. A grandmother named Gilda Menendez owned a vehicle, and had an auto insurance policy. The grandmother let her granddaughter, Fabiola G. Llanes, drive her vehicle. The granddaughter was driving the vehicle with her parents, Fabiola P. Llanes and Roger Llanes, as passengers, … Continue reading →