Disability insurance companies aren’t very good at retaining employees for very long. I’ve found that once most individuals find out that the job of a claims handler is not “quality claims management” but denying claims, they leave in droves. The stress of the job is yet another reason to push employees out the door for better prospects in less stressful jobs. Finally, claims handlers are told that if they can’t make the denial targets after 24 months, they need to look for other jobs.
Insurance companies have problems when employees leave the company. There are at least 150+ claims per employee that need to be transferred to someone else. When they are, claims handlers usually start the entire investigative process over again to their own liking by demanding updated medical information, phone interviews etc. Today, in lieu of “reading the file”, most claims handlers start the process over with new information requests.
Claims handlers always think that they are the only ones on the floor who know what they’re doing. Receiving new claims formerly managed by someone else gives the new claims handler an opportunity to show that only they can do “the job right.”
Of course from the perspective of the insured, it’s a real pain. New medical forms to hunt down, questionnaires, demands for phone interviews, phone calls etc. Regardless of the amount of time an insured has been on claim, new handlers will invariably begin all over again with multiple requests to improve their own performance ratings.
Insurance companies play “musical chairs” with claims all the time. Usually, letters are sent out notifying insureds that claims have been transferred to someone else. You can be sure requests for new information will be forthcoming. When I worked for Unum two decades ago all claims handlers were expected to “read entire claim files” and have a basically familiarity with all of the claims in their blocks. Today, it appears to me that handlers rarely read beyond the top 10 pages, which is why they request new information all of the time.
Not being able to retain trained and experienced claims handlers is viewed as a negative by those companies who determine Bond Ratings. Insurance companies are expected to have stable claim review environments, but they rarely do because of the nature of the business. Transferring claims from one claims handler to the next encourages lost paperwork, and lack of support for continued benefits.
BUT, insurers continue to have the attitude, “well, I can always find others to fill the jobs.” Enter, new employees, untrained and inexperienced. It’s a disaster that creates “backlogs” (near death to an insurance company), and even more employees leaving due to the disorganization of the whole process.
To insureds it means one hassle after another, insecurity, and continual processing of new paperwork. When insureds receive “hand-off” letters there should always be an expectation of receiving additional requests for information. New claims handlers like to make great first impressions, but requesting an over abundance of paperwork isn’t going to gain them support from insureds.
Sometimes all insureds can do is “just hang on and go with the process.”
