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Scene From "The Incredibles" Captures the Plight of Many Denied Insurance Claims
I had the opportunity to watch the movie "The Incredibles" again this past weekend and one scene struck me as somehow familiar. The scene follows the lead hero character, Mr. Incredible, years later as he was forced into retirement with all superheroes because of "liability reasons." He is working a regular job under an assumed name, Bob Parr, as an insurance claim handler. In the scene noted above, Parr is forced deny a claim of his "client" who was an elderly female senior citizen claimant. Reverting back to his inner persona, he then feels bad and advises this claimant of some "tricks of the trade" and suggests some tactics for her to get her claim covered. If only life imitated art.
Often times, people unfairly assume that when they suffer a serious claim that their insurance company is going to help. That is not always the case. For many people who have had an insurance claim, whether it was a car accident, uninsured or underinsured motorist claim, health insurance claim, life insurance claim, fire or property damage claim or any other type of personal injury claim, people find that insurance claims' handlers are not "superheroes" in hiding trying to help them get their claim paid. In fact, as the claims' handlers see it, they are protecting their employer's interests by denying claims or paying as little as possible.
In the scene below, Bob's boss is confronting him about his inexplicable customers' knowledge and ability to cut through the bureaucracy at the expense of the company stockholders.
This scene resonates with me as it reminds me of the "delay, deny, defend" set of tactics that one can see employed in varying cases. Many of these tactics were outlined in the book "From Good Hands To Boxing Gloves: The Dark Side of Insurance" as a way to increase profits. While the tactics are not new to attorneys dealing with these issues daily, it can be a shock for many injured people discovering this in a time of need.
In many cases, the only way an injured person, policyholder or claimant is going to get a fair shake is to contact and retain an experienced attorney with knowledge on how to get claims covered by their insurance company. Moreover, that attorney will know how to advise whether that injured party, policyholder or claimant is getting treated fairly for their car accident, injury claim, or any other type of insurance matter. While attorneys should not be confused with super heroes (although, I would love a super power or two), hiring an attorney will give you a true advocate to work on your behalf.
