This is an article I’ve posted every year for 20 years in memory of UNUMProvident’s 9/11 claims. It seems appropriate on this day to do so again.
Here we are on the 20th anniversary of the tragic event of 9/11. As a former customer care specialist employed by UNUMProvident, I can still remember the shocked and scared faces of all of us who anxiously watched monitors when the first and second planes hit the towers. It was unbelievable. Most of us didn’t quite know what to do, as an announcement came over the intercom, “Anyone who is disturbed emotionally by this morning’s events may go home.” No one did. I think we all were in shock, mostly, and as the day continued it was obvious that we carried our sadness in our hearts, and were too preoccupied mentally to make calls, or conduct our business in the usual way.
UNUMProvident, the disability insurer for many of the financial businesses located in the Twin Towers, initially made good, and paid on the very expensive disability policies issued to companies such as Morgan Stanley, and The Mercantile. Most of the employee paperwork of these companies was also destroyed, yet UNUMProvident agreed to pay disability benefits without going through normal processing. UNUMProvident received a great deal of notoriety and marketing advantage because of their “generous sympathy”. Senior claims specialists were given the responsibility of managing the 9/11 claims. I was one of them.
Nearly all of the 9/11 claims assigned to me were diagnosed with PTSD, anxiety and depression. One of my claimants was a pregnant woman who was on the 49th floor when the first tower collapsed, and only by sheer will and quickness was she able to exit the second tower in time. Both she and her baby survived, but the nightmare of stumbling down the stairs haunted her peace and prevented her from caring for her baby.
Most of us watching the events on TV saw the thick clouds of debris and smoke when the towers suddenly collapsed. Many of my claimants suffered, not only from PTSD, but from severe respiratory illness resulting from breathing the hot smoke and small bits of debris from the fires. As spectators, we certainly never realized that when the towers collapsed, the pure force of the debris embedded in the bodies of many individuals who were too close.
A year later, pieces of steel and debris continued to emerge from the bodies of 9/11 victims. In addition, there are those claimants who, desperately trying to escape the inferno and smoke, sought refuge in nearby buildings, and were only able to get out after stepping over dead bodies and body parts. We can all imagine what this experience did to our country men and women. I had one such person as a DCS Client for many years.
On the anniversary of 9/11, 2002 UNUMProvident literally marched all of its employees into conference rooms for a film replay of the 9/11 events. When the films of the actual planes hitting the towers were shown, many employees left the room. The memories were still too real. The grand finale was the statement by then CEO Harold Chandler, “God Bless the United States and UNUMProvident.”
At this point, most of us felt sick at the inappropriate remark. In fact, some of the claims handlers threw up. The inappropriateness of the off-remark became even more evident a week after the conference room replay of the events. Those of us who were managing the 9/11 claims were called to a meeting run by several of the department managers. One manager boldly stated, “It’s been a year now since we’ve been paying on the 9/11 claims. These people can’t possibly still be impaired. We (meaning the managers and consultants) will give you a date for roundtable. Gather up all of your 9/11 claims and present them at roundtable. We want to review all of the 9/11 claims for possible denial.”
I really didn’t want to present the 9/11 claims at roundtable. I knew what the roundtable was for, and I knew the 9/11 victims didn’t have much more time on claim. Hence I was late getting my 9/11 lists together and claims prepared for the presentation. However, in spite of my attempts of “putting off” the reviews, I was “instructed” by a consultant to prepare the claims and bring them in the following day. I had no choice, and the next day I attended the 9/11 roundtables. My manager, consultant and medical personnel did everything they could to find cause to deny the claims. I was ordered to deny legitimate claims I knew should be paid. The sadness I felt was almost unbearable and I think that it was how UNUMProvident treated 9/11 victims that was the last straw for me as a claims handler. I felt helpless to do what I knew what the right thing to do.
One of my claims was denied because the gentleman had moved to Jersey and “couldn’t possibly still have PTSD when he doesn’t even have to cross the bridge or see the site anymore”, said my manager. Does that really make sense? Another claim was denied because an insured didn’t have money to obtain “appropriate” medical treatment for his depression and panic attacks. My consultant ordered me to obtain additional medical information from a woman who was still so traumatized she couldn’t speak with me directly on the phone. I didn’t like signing those denial letters because I knew that all of these claims should continue to be paid.
As we remember the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy perhaps we should also consider that for every 9/11 claim denied unfairly, there are hundreds of other disability claims for individuals like you and me that are also denied unfairly.
We’ve been through a long history of the Georgia Conduct Market Examination, the Multi-State Settlement, Elliot Spitzer, The Department of Labor, and we are no further ahead to halting the rampant unethical activity of most disability insurers. Those of us who hoped for reform, or at best, some sort of chastisement for UNUM were sorely disappointed when the DOL and Elliot Spitzer “sold out” to the powerful UNUMProvident lobby eternally protecting its interests. ERISA laws, originally intended to help insureds, are now interpreted to favor the disability industry and the profits they made from employer sponsored plans. If UNUM can oust 9/11 claimants from benefits just one year out from the event, who else can they deny for little to no reason?
Information I have indicates there are still UNUMProvident 9/11 claims out there in litigation, and my experience with UNUMProvident as an employee tells me they won’t be the last. What I regret most is the realization we haven’t accomplished a darn thing in making the disability insurance industry accountable to the people it sells policies to. Somehow, we, our leaders, our government, missed the point on all this. And, that is a tragedy to be remembered.
