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 Lindquist put mattresses on top of the men he was trying to protect. He and the other social worker then weighed down the mattresses with their own bodies.
The tornado caused massive damage, and destroyed the group home. The men Lindquist and his fellow social worker were trying to protect did not survive. Lindquist did, but just barely. He was in a coma for about two months. All of his ribs were broken, he lost most of his teeth, and he suffered several other injuries.
This left Lindquist with around $2.5 million in medical bills. There were more to come. He needed to undergo more surgeries, and he was using eleven different medications every day. He did not have health insurance, because he could not afford to buy it. Social workers don’t get paid very well, so this is understandable.
So, he sent a claim about his medical bills to his company’s workers compensation provider. Workers Comp is supposed to cover the cost of the health care and treatment required by workers who are injured while they are “on the job”. There is no doubt that Lindquist was working when he was injured.
Surprisingly, Accident Fund Insurance Company of America, the workers compensation insurer that was connected with the company that Lindquist works for, denied his claim. The insurer sent him a letter that said “based on the fact that there was no greater risk than the general public at the time you were involved in the Joplin tornado”.
Personally, I see this as a poor excuse to deny a claim that the insurer should be paying out on. It turns out that I am not the only one who thought so. Blogs and articles all across the internet popped up, pointing out that Accident Fund Insurance Company of America was basically using a “cop-out” to deny a legitimate claim.
Today, Monday, October 24, 2011, the insurer has officially changed its mind. It has now agreed to pay the medical bills of Mark Lindquist. Accident Fund Insurance Company of America said:
“Upon further review of the case, and receiving additional information on the facts involved in this situation, Accident Fund believes the appropriate decision is to honor Mr. Mark Lindquist’s claim for worker’s compensation benefits”.
Its nice when public outrage can influence insurance companies to do the right thing. The family of Mark Lindquist is going to speak with an attorney, to consider all their options, before accepting the payment from the insurer.
Image by Bob Webster on Flickr