While most insureds still expect to receive accurate information from their insurers, the reality is that there is no one person you can depend on who is trained to provide detailed policy, Plan, or process information to those who are receiving benefits.
The claims process for nearly all insurers has been decentralized and now operates as individualized departments responsible for only their own piece of the claims process. Claims handlers are no more than glorified Administrative Assistants. They aren’t trained to adjudicate disability Plans or policies, and will, most likely have to “find out” the answer to any question you ask.
Claims handlers aren’t calling the shots, so to speak. The phrase, “I have to pass you on to someone else” is quite common now. Today, all insurers are employing claims specialists (in name only) all over the world. Some barely speak English, and those who don’t speak English well, aren’t reading it very well either. They are also using Sat phones to communicate. Imagine an illiterate English speaking claims handler attempting to understand the update forms you just sent in.
I guess you could say the COVID years heralded in an age of cheap labor and unskilled claims workers.Behind the scenes are a few tenured workers who ultimately make decisions, but to be honest, it appears to me that “the reviewers” are making claims decisions, a real reversal from what used to be.
So what does the claims process look like now? It’s a mess of chasing paper, and more paper, and more paper still. The majority of resources seem to rest with “third-party paper chasers” who care nothing about content, but only stacking the deck, and your file, with paperwork. In some respect I think insurers lost track of their data technology to maintain claim file information and have started to “recreate” claim files by requesting more and more paperwork “for the file.”
My message to insureds is that they shouldn’t expect insurance companies to provide good, quality customer services and “intelligent” information relative to the business of disability insurance. Whenever the claims process is “decentralized” with unqualified “dedicated” workers, each division or department operates separately from the others without much supervision. It IS pretty much of a mess out there, and I wouldn’t expect much. The best thing to do is just make sure everything is documented and try to meet their deadlines. In the end, the bread dough doesn’t rise to the top, making it more difficult for insureds to manage their claims if they don’t know what they’re doing.
