+1

In work for a competitor of AIG, our claims theory (at least in our training) is to just pay. I don't know how much the stuff this guy needs costs, but I'm sure its actually much less than the punitive damages. Thousand dollar claims turn into billion dollar lawsuits for things like this.

@shepd:

insurance only = bad if you dont take the time to actually read and understand your policy.

yes your car insurance has a deductible.
yes your Homeowners insurance doesnt cover specific things.

most generic policies are the same, and all can be customized to include/exclude coverages. just pay attention, and be interested in your policy BEFORE you have that giant claim...

and anyone who thinks renters insurance is a waste has no idea what they are talking about.

"Health Insurance" should be called "Health Maintenance". It is complete b.s. Ask Joe Cassano from AIG, who got terminated in Feb. 2008, yet last fall was still receiving $1 million / month as part of his golden umbrella. Who NEEDS that kind of money? No one. Who NEEDS a fraction of a fraction of that kind of money? The contractor whom this story is about. I'm sure Cassona drives a Mercedes, and probably an SUV at that, with his false sense of security. Put a person on a bicycle and watch them to tell you to get out of the road, doesn't happen most of the time, people are selfish and insecure and they think, because they're in a 'big' car, they're tougher. Basically it boils down to money, as does everything. This country is run by people that just want money because they use the money to buy bigger houses and other materialistic garbage to make themselves feel better because they're really just insecure and self centered. I hope some day, mankind will get past all the b.s. and help out their neighbors. You get these selfish, rich jerks talking down to the rest of us, only because they have money and think they're special. Take away their money and they can't function because they're so self absorbed. It is pathetic, AIG pays out bonuses, meanwhile one of their 'customers' suffers. They're eating caviar while some of their customers eat ramen noodles, all because those up top, have swindled their way there.

apparantly if I'd upgraded my policy I would have had no deductable and they would have replaced the device instead of sending me a check if I wanted. The upgrade would have been like $20 a month instead of $7

Banks wanted to make more money than just the interest of a loan. So they packaged up what was at the time a safe investment (Mortgages) and sold them to another bank or company. People would also invest in these grouped mortgage packages (called Collateralize Debt Obligations). You put money in at a particular risk tier and you'd make a percentage based on the risk, the safer the group of mortgages the less money you'd get back, the riskier, you get back more money.

In order to entice investors, they got the top tier CDOs insured, so that if they failed they would get most of their money back. Over time people made billions off of basically made up money. Life was good.

(other stuff happens: banks, wanting more money, encourage brokers with huge commissions to make more loans so the banks can sell them, they lower loan qualifiers, sub prime lending begins)

Sub prime borrowers start getting foreclosed on, and people start getting worried about their money, so they invest less. To keep interest they get insurance on the 2nd tier of mortgages. More foreclosures, banks call in their insurance, AIG starts losing money like crazy. only 2 years of premiums at 200 a month will not cover thousands of claims at 300k each. AIG still has a lot of claims and policies out there propping up the banks...I think there's probably a lot more to it than that, but that is the main cause I believe.

I think that is the most extreme form of insurance denial / shirking...

@Trai_Dep: Ok, READ the U.S. Constitution. It lays out our form of government with the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches.

Too bad - you own them.

The sooner people move beyond Republican vs. Democrat, the sooner the country can begin to recover. You really think that our elected officials care one whit about us? It must be amazingly comfortable in your little world.

And to top it off, he was a damn truck driver, not a combat troop, professional military or merc. He went to drive a truck and lost a leg. You're acting like he's a video game character merc who was being payed to slaughter children.

(And let me go ahead and head off the LOL Faux News viewer crap. I'm former Air Force Security Forces, a registered democrat, voted for Gore, voted for Kerry, voted for Obama, and utterly despise KBR/Blackwater. But I'm not going to hold an individual grunt responsible for the behavior of his employers.)

@Justin Larson: Oh I don't doubt that . I don't think the military was ever intended to take the full brunt . And that's the thing it all comes down to an over stretched military . One way or another we pay in the end .

@JohnAllison: Even if it's not politically correct work it was still legitimate work . Most of these contractors are doing support work . Should the factory workers,supervisors and white collar engineers that manufacture the tools of war be considered mercenaries as well since they profited off this war . Alot of corporations profited off this including AIG that handled these policies since the invasion started . Half the reason these polices exist because they're mandated coverages by the government .

@Trai_Dep: By the way, if your news source is telling you that Congress is controlled by the President whenever there is a Republican in office, you might want to consider getting your news elsewhere or at least picking up the U.S. Constitution.

@Trai_Dep: Of course you resort to attributing anything you disagree with to Fox News (the Boogie Man Network). Very predictable. If 98% of Democrats voted against the bailouts, they never would have passed. Democrats have controlled Congress for going on three years now and during every bailout vote.

@BlackMage66652: If I'm not mistaken, AIG was bailed out by your good ole Republican Hero George W. Bush.

So, I see you believe the president passes laws and appropriates money, and not congress. Interesting. How did you come to that conclusion?

This person should have made sure that these kinds of injuries would have been explicitly covered before he made the decision to go into a war zone. The injuries sustained in Iraq are not new. The press has done a phenomenal job reporting on all of the injuries our Troops suffer. Any mercenary should have done their due diligence before hopping on a flight to charge the American taxers an arm and a leg for his services.

@shepd:

It's funny how everyone hates insurance companies - until they have a claim that needs to be paid. I wrote a work comp policy for a client of mine. The premium was $2,000. Within a month, he had an employee get crushed by a crane. The insurance company has already paid out $1 million on a $2K policy. But I guess you wouldn't think that was unfair to them.

You should educate yourself before posting such hyperbolic bullshit. If you do business with reputable insurers, they're not going to stiff you on a claim.

AIG produces more suck than a porn star in a black hole.

@Jackmojo: But he supposedly was prepared for the consequences with the AIG insurance .

And if the private contractors weren't doing as much you would have had a draft by now , reservist's and regular military over there with no breaks in deployment and a way over stretched military that couldn't even do things like chase pirates . Wether you agree with the war/the use of contractors or not they definately have their place in this war .

Perhaps it's letter writing time to :

Kristian P Moore
Executive Vice President
AIG Property & Casualty
70 Pine St
New York , New York 10270

or

Nicholas Walsh
Executive Vice President
AIG Foreign General Insurance
70 Pine St
New York , New York 10270

I guess the real question is are these people actually in control let alone in charge . If AIG's Finance Division blew it what's to say the Insurance division didn't as well .

From AIGs Annual Report on Yahoo Finance

it just as easily could have been anthem or uhc or aetna or one of a dozen other insurance cos. that ultimately expect you to pay in but never withdraw out.

perhaps the connection to taxpayer funds can finally shed light on the abusive practices of insurance companies as a whole, but otherwise it's really just not relevant. aig would be doing this even if they hadn't received a dime from us.

I think Sodomanaz was trying to give the standard cookie-cutter advice for dealing with the red tape of the VA. He was trying to help. Please, Please, Please, you're right: He obviously is ignorant of the trials we vets face. However, his advice is legit for getting a form filled out. No advancement will be made in telling him to shut up.

With that said, I feel for your father. I had to go through in suing the VA for benefits. I also won.

Woodson is covered by AIG under a government-mandated program that provides medical and disability benefits for employees working for U.S. contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Also from the article:

In Woodson's case, when his fuel truck hit the hidden bomb outside Baghdad, he was blown through the roof of his cab and thrown about a hundred feet away, also damaging his back and breaking his pelvis.

Woodson says he was told by an AIG representative in the hospital that he would be fully covered by AIG, but that when he returned home, he quickly discovered AIG was prepared to challenge almost all of his medical needs.

Reading. It's amazing what you learn.

The only thing I do know is most insurance only wants to pay the minimum, cheapest route available--if they pay at all. I'm surprised they didn't send this guy the $20 JaipurKnee with a nice fruit basket.

A mere mortal could toil for a thousand years and never come up with a way to suck that these people haven't already found and put into action. AIG has been pushing the envelope of suckosity for so long that they now have this huge department, staffed with the lowest dregs of legal scumbaggery they can possibly scrape from the bottoms of barrels and the dirt beneath them, devoted solely to finding new ways to suck and to profit thereby.

These people are the Sultans of Suck, the Titans of suck. a Mt. Olympus style pantheon of the veritable gods of suckery. They exist at the apex of a mountain of suck, having trod roughshod on the backs of countless competitors to get there.

Oh yeah... did I mention that AIG sucks?

My family has had to fight the VA for twenty years to get disability for my father. It has been a long long battle involving two law suits as well.

You don't seem to know a goddamn thing about the VA, so please shut the fuck up.

@MisterE: "Ask any Veteran who has been injured in the service and I'm sure you'll hear a similar tale of woe of not getting benefits either from the service branch or the Veteran's Administration." Please stfu.

Counties have veteran's service officers for just this reason. Is there red tape? There sure as hell is, but there are also people in government that are there to help file those claims for/with you at the local level. If any veteran has these issues, contact your VSO immediately.

Keep on blindly supporting the Dems, keep on thinking they care about the people. That's EXACTLY what they want. At least the Repubs are open about hating regular citizens.

Back when my son was a toddler, he inadvertently kind of set the couch on fire by using a halogen torchiere (sp?) lamp as a "flashlight" to look under the couch for a toy he'd dropped, and then not moving the lamp away. There were no actual flames, but there was a big scorch/burn mark across the front bottom of the sofa. To my surprise, the insurance covered it, even when I explained how it'd happened. I would never have thought to file a claim, but my father kept pushing me to do it; I kept saying "they'll never pay for that," and finally filed just to make him shut up about it. I did *not* have to pay up front; just had to get two estimates and send a photo of the damage.

I had $30,000 coverage for about $100 a year, plus a $15(?)/yr PC rider, with no deductible - which came in handy when the plant-watering mishap occurred with my monitor, ahem. Plus the aforementioned liability coverage, medical insurance if someone had been injured in my apartment, etc.

For years I'd been the "I don't have enough stuff to bother insuring it" type of person, then a friend got robbed - cleaned out - and just getting the bare bones together (dishes/flatware/cookware, beds, linens/towels, toiletries, kids' stuff) cost her a couple grand. It was about three years before she really got back to where she'd started from.

That changed my mind about renters' insurance, but I did make sure that my company's policy was NOT one where I'd have to replace everything first and send in receipts. For the sofa burn, they sent a check three days after I faxed the estimates; for the computer monitor, it was deposited directly to my checking account with them the day after I sent the estimates. USAA rocks like that.

I don't doubt it. I just lack sympathy for the driver..much as a I would for the drunken driver having problems later on in your scenario...

Jack

@Alisha Young:
You are right and if you ask many conservatives you will find that they dislike bush for this reason. Before you write off the tea parties you need to know that they booed off a front runner of the republican governor race in South Carolina because of these bailouts. He voted for them. The people at the tea parties are mad at anyone who spent like there was no tomorrow.

@Trai_Dep:
Sadly it was this or the draft. I have no idea who should pay because on one hand it was a way to avoid the draft and the VA system should pay but on the other hand you have a privet company with its own benefits plan. The problem is now heroes like him are SOL while we try to figure out what to do.

Although they might like having hooks for hands better. There's always that risk.

Maintaining all that ignorance must be stressful for you.

The insurance companies make millions of dollars from policies (ultimately paid for by tax-dollars) and then routinely deny serious medical claims. AIG dominated the market while the regulators couldn't keep up.

Ask any Veteran who has been injured in the service and I'm sure you'll hear a similar tale of woe of not getting benefits either from the service branch or the Veteran's Administration. Please understand: I am not making less of this guy's problems. They are real and he needs help.

sure, we'll pay. well, maybe. after you front the $$. and then only what we feel would be a real replacement cost.

like i had 10K just sitting around.

a$$es.

I will never, I repeat never have anything to do with AIG.

The insurance racket is in the business of denying claims, not paying them. If you got the same injuries getting innocently hit by a drunk driver, I'd bet real money they'd deny you too.

@HogwartsAlum: I think the crying baby would have added a nice touch

I'll send him mine too, and my thermos.

I agree with you completely. I sent this to the President just now:

Dear President Obama,

Regarding AIG, see this story, posted on ABC and The Consumerist blog:
[abcnews.go.com]
[consumerist.com]

Why are we bailing out this company? Why not just let them die? Why are companies being allowed to steal money from people and lie to them? And why don't we just let them go out of business? They don't know how to do honest business. They have become giant evil thieves.

I don't understand this at all. I was so excited about this administration that I risked getting in trouble at work to watch the Inauguration online. But how can these people get away with this? We need to get these evil insurance companies under control, or get rid of them. They are both bankrupting people and killing them by denying needed medical care. This guy may not die, but why should he have to fight like this just to have quality of life?

Shut them all down. Thank you for listening.

Sincerely,

My/real/name

If I could have posted a picture of a crying baby, I would have.

@Alisha Young: Revisionist history at its best. In case you missed it in civics class, the President can't force Congress write legislation to suite his needs any more than he can force the Supreme Court to rule a certain way. The Democrats in Congress and most of the Republicans voted for this crappy bailout. Bush, Congress, and now Obama; they're all to blame and they all suck.

Kudos to Senator Coburn. He's one of the good ones.

Nope, house insurance is pointless, too. My friend's father had house/fire insurance and had a massive fire, with $20,000 worth of damage. While the insurance company is willing to foot the bills, HE has to pay for the repairs FIRST, then send THOSE bills to the insurance company, and HOPE they'll cover it all.

I don't know about you, but I don't have $20,000 lying around to pay for damage that is INSURED.

Jack

How about when Bush pushed through the first TARP and refused to allow any legislation that would have called for the corporations to be held accountable and that it all had to be done transparently? Did you protest then?

This came from an article I found online talking about the teabagger movement (didn't they also try to make chickenhawk a term of pride?)

ABC News says that AIG also "fought to keep from paying for a wheelchair or glasses for the eye in which he has 30 percent vision."

@Canino: The first giveaway started in the LAST administration, don't forget that. What's next, this administration hid Iraqs' "weapons of mass destruction"?

@RodAox: I suspect that it's common practice among insurance providers to randomly deny claims for no good reason. A percentage of people who are turned down never fight the outcome, and AIG (or any insurance company) saves money.

I'd have to take my shoes off to count how many of my family's doctor visits weren't covered by our insurance at first (bluecross and cigna). They make you jump through hoops to get what is rightfully yours.

@TEW: Shouldn't Cheney pay for it then?

@legotech:
Thanks I did not see that.

@TEW: He's not in the military, he was working for KBR which is a soldier of fortune outfit like Blackwater.

(Thanks God I live in Canada, I have enough stress in my life, I don't need to worry about health insurance on top of that.)

The insurance companies have lobbied for deregulation just like the banks so they can get away with doing this on a large scale. Most disability insurance is practically worthless. If it is employer provided even more so because you can't sue for damages.

The insurance industry has a can of worms just as messed up as the one we opened on the banking industry.

Why does he need AIG? Shouldn't the VA pay for his battle wounds? If this man needs help paying where can I donate. I can always find money to help pay for a true American hero's needs.

It's the exact same model as gambling. How many casinos make it super-easy to keep on winning after one or two half-decent payouts? How many of them will boot anyone counting cards?

This doesn't come as a surprise to me. I have yet to have found a single form of insurance that is actually worth it. This includes:

- Car insurance. (My province has a legal maximum for anything that happens as a result, something insurance companies wanted, something that means insurance is obsolete). I have it because I don't live in NH.
- Renter's insurance. (Honestly, none of my stuff is worth the cost of renter's insurance, but I have to have it because the LL requires it in their lease).
- Credit insurance. All my debts are in my name, so what's the point again? Even if they were joint, my wife doesn't work and therefore is creditor-proof, anyways.

About the only thing I can think of worth the dough is possibly house insurance. But I bet there'll be a catch with that, too. I suppose (emergency) health insurance would be worth it, if I lived in the US.

@Clay Gann: There was no requirement for oversight in the bailout of AIG. It was just a giveaway of your money.

You can thank the democrats for that.

"We hate big business and constantly make big business out to be the enemy of the people, so we're going to give big business trillions of taxpayer dollars with no requirement they actually do anything specific with it. Have a nice day, citizen."

Having worked in the insurance industry for 10 years, I know some people sent in claims for things like hot tubs (for sore backs), golf carts (for mobility), CraftMatic adjustable beds etc. This man needed things to help him perform activities of daily living. He was not asking for a hot tub. God help us. Like Navin Johnson in "The Jerk," I want AIG to send a check for $1.09 to every taxpayer in America as repayment for the squandered bailout we so foolishly gave them. They can apply my share to getting Mr. Woodson the things he needs to live his life.

Superfuck AIG.

"Help us America, help us to fail at the very reason we exist, it's the most profitable way. Then, when you help us, please don't bother us again."
You know what, I want my bailout back. I'm sure the money could be better spent, you know, taking care of people who need it.
Fuckers