UNUM Provident Bad
Faith Claims
Unum Provident Claim
Denial Policy
Numerous former and current
Unum Provident employees have come forward, continuing to confirm
reports of bad
faith insurance practices the company has been accused of
using. Unum Provident provides disability insurance to 17 million
Americans, making the insurance company the largest in the U.S.
by far. Now Unum Provident bad faith claims are surfacing alleging their denial of legitimate claims,
bringing negative publicity to the company.
Unum Provident continues to deny any wrongdoing
in business practices used, however former employees from vice
presidents to other departments confirm the same allegations that
Unum Provident sets targets to close valid claims. Former employees
say these financial targets were well known and widely used business
practices that Unum Provident supported and encouraged by promoting
employees that pushed the bad faith practices. According to a
former claims handler in the Unum Provident headquarters, anywhere
from $7-14 million was targeted to be shut down every month, varying
depending on what departments needed help.
Roughly 3,000
lawsuits have been filed against Unum Provident in the last
five years for closed claims or denied claims that policy holders
feel were unrightfully denied. Some wonder how an insurance company
facing such high number of lawsuits in addition to an increasing
amount of bad publicity like Unum Provident can continue to use
bad faith
business practices.
The elected California Department of Insurance
head, John Garamendi attributes Unum's risk of liability by continuing
to deny or cancel claims to a matter of economic equation. Garamendi
thinks that Unum Provident looks at how much business it risks
losing versus how much business will be gained by denying the
legitimate claims. So far, Unum Provident has been financially
successful using bad faith business tactics and has avoided major
liability.
According to Unum Provident financial reports
in 1993, the insurance company was losing millions of dollars
until new management totally turned the company around. Shortly
after, Unum Provident reported gains of millions of dollars. The
company attributed this financial turnaround to restructuring
and sound business decisions, however some former employees attribute
the financial success to different reasons.
An October 2002 Dateline investigation included
a former Unum Provident employee, one of just two staff physicians
employed at the time new management took over at the company in
1993. Taken in a deposition, former employee Dr. William Feist
described how Unum Provident started holding meetings called "roundtables"
where claims were cut from individuals costing the company, especially
from those with subjective illnesses, such as mental illness,
chronic pain, Parkinson's that had no ability to show up in actual
x-rays or MRI's.
The Dateline investigation spoke with ten Unum
Provident employees ranging from high offices of vice presidents
to claim representatives that all reported on Unum Provident's
denied claims. A 1995 Unum Provident memo outlined the company's
goal of terminating $132 million in claims. A 2001 Unum Provident
email shows a company wide goal of closing 18 or more claims in
one week in order to meet projections made.
Still, Unum Provident continues to deny
reports that the company sets targets for closing valid claims.
If
you would like more information on bad faith lawsuits and Unum
Provident, please contact us to confer with a bad faith lawyer.
