Yesterday I noticed a negative comment posted on Lindanee’s Blog by a Unum Hub Investigator who was having a problem with me throwing all field investigators into one negative basket. The comment has been deleted.
While I encourage people to post comments expressing their opinions, I do not allow posts to remain on the Blog that disrespect the feelings of those who visit here for help. Therefore, the remainder of my remarks below are written to the field investigator who wrote the comment.
The purpose of Lindanee’s Blog is to provide insureds with private disability claims, information equal to that of the agencies and their representatives who make decisions to pay or not pay claims. From the perspective of the insurance industry my Blog is not about persons, or personalities, but about a PROCESS that works to NOT pay claims for profitability sake, harming thousands of middle class workers depending on disability coverage for financial security.
I am probably the last person you might want to try and sell the “Babe in the Woods Routine” to. You and I both know what Unum field visits are all about and why they are requested. We know that tag surveillances are often arranged on the same day as the field visit and that field interviews are all about looking for “inconsistency of report.”
In reality, Unum doesn’t have any secrets anymore. Insureds have copies of the 15 page templates that are used to question insureds. Most insureds do not allow interviews in their homes, or photos requested to be taken at the interview. The jig is up, and insureds know exactly why they are asked for a field interview and what could happen as a result of it. Most importantly, insureds are now aware that if a field visit provision isn’t in their Plans or policies, they don’t have to do it.
Anyone who works for an investigative agency like HUB, for Unum in particular, knows exactly what’s going on. You are subject to the same hierarchy of rules, adherence and propaganda that every other Unum worker is subjected to. As I said, the “Babe in the Woods Routine” doesn’t work with me. All Unum claims personnel and third-parties know exactly what is going on in the claims process, some are even complicit with denying claims they know to be payable.
Unum claims handlers often communicate with field investigators prior to the interview and inform them what it is they want to know. Tag surveillances are often arranged. It has always been interesting to me that the field visit template questions ask for same information that has been in the claim file for quite some time. Funny. Field visits are all about information shared by insureds that is NOT asked for, but contributed voluntarily. Idle conversation is the ultimate “Gotcha” component to field interviews.
Therefore, while I appreciate all comments that are made to the Blog, I will delete any comment that is not respectful to insureds or claimants, or comments that do not reflect the truth, or those that impart inaccurate information.
If you are “afraid” to do your job as a field investigator, then find another job. But, don’t blame the messenger who is not to blame for Unum’s malfeasance in attempting to deny payable claims. The general public knows all about it now, and the jig is literally up!
While I don’t condemn you, or any Unum employee for the job that you do, let’s not try to sell it as “I don’t do anything wrong”, or, “I’m fair with those I interview, or claims I review.” We both know that’s not true, and as a Unum employee you also know that “fair” is not part of the Unum claims process.
Let’s at least be honest about what you do, and how it impacts insureds when they lose benefits because of it.
