There is no doubt but that the alleged COVID epidemic’s lockdowns have caused disability insurers to act outside of their own internal disorganization that recently quickly turned to chaos. Within the last week I received several calls from claimants complaining that Unum is requesting the same information over and over again. Insureds are upset!
It’s unclear at the moment whether information is getting lost at the Columbia, SC communication center, or that claims handlers are just not reading the files. Are the files intact? We just don’t know.
I have suspected for quite some time now, even before COVID, that claims handlers in general are not reading entire files, but only the top 10k most recent pages or so. Claims handlers are working remotely at home and generally don’t have access to as many resources as they had. Over the last 5 years Unum downsized the company to the point where it may not have a combined campus anywhere, but if they do, the company needs to provide leadership to get it all straighten out.
Nevertheless, Unum insureds, and I’m sure others as well, have been jumping through hoops to provide information to begin with. The prospect of having to go through it all again is really driving people crazy, not to mention their treating physicians.
Requesting repeated information over and over again was NOT one of Unum’s faults, but it is now. The company has all of its review activities so spread out there’s no cohesiveness in the claim review process at all.
It does not appear to me that there is any unified leadership going on at Unum. This can make supporting claims a hell on earth for insureds.
