Political Courage and Standing Up to The Insurance Lobby
Megyn Kelly, of FoxNews interviewed me last Friday. The topic was "Who Will Take the Lead in Deficit Debate." She appropriately raised the important issue whether our political leaders have the courage to change spending and tax policy to prevent government bankruptcy. Here is the Interview:
Following the interview, I contemplated the issue of courage and whether our elected leaders and politicians have enough courage to stand up to the insurance industry and its political lobby. The insurance industry has essentially taken over the determination of insurance policy within the Florida Chamber of Commerce and Associated Industries. Its "soft money" campaign contributions are unsurpassed. Those of us with the ability and knowledge to challenge the powerful interests have a responsibility to help educate our elected officials and raise the prospect of intentionally misleading debate by these entities.
Standing up to illogical demands from those that support you financially can be difficult. When I write that the actuarial losses of sinkhole claims cannot be sustained in the long-term without changes to rates and/or changes in sinkhole coverage, I am certain some are not happy with that viewpoint. Yet, it is the truth and something must be done to change the current unsustainable situation.
What is not acceptable and seems to be the cowardly trend is the acceptance of untruthful and illogical reasoning for change of law or policy. "Fraud" is spewed from the mouths of insurance lobbyists and insurance propagandists as a basis for change. Few valid statistics ever support such charges. But using the word "fraud" as a false basis for insurance reform is as common as using the word "communist" was during the McCarthy era of the 1950's.
I was amazed that nobody in the Florida Senate Banking and Insurance Committee challenged the derogatory comment made by one insurance executive testifying that sinkhole losses are a form of "blue collar lottery." Such defamatory rhetoric is used to cast unfair suspicion and impugn the integrity of anybody making such a claim and those that provide help doing so. Senator Mike Fasano was a noted exception to the acceptance of such rhetoric. Other senators were not taking a stand nor did they have the courage to challenge the statement. The media simply repeated the pithy, but false charge. A problem with outcome oriented public policy agendas is that many have no logical basis for implementation. They can be quite destructive. McCarthyism and the absolute proof of Iraq having weapons of mass destruction are examples what a delusional basis can do to influence politicians.
Similarly, "fraud" and "lottery mentality" are the false codewords used by the insurance industry and its lobbyists to support its outcome oriented agenda. Whenever they are mentioned, elected officials and regulators should question whether there is a truthful and legitimate reason for the insurance industry's request for alleged "reform." The courage to demand a honest debate rather than support of a position and vote pre-determined is needed if we are to improve the insurance marketplace.
Mr. Merlin,
Your public concience and constant efforts to defend what is right,investing a great deal of your own time and resources are much to be admired and hopefully appreciated by the industry.
You were a powerful supporter of the sucessful election campaign for Mr. Artiles--a peoples advocate.
If you decide to "throw your own hat" into the politicaal arena I for one would be honored to help in any way I can.
Thank you and keep it up.
Respectfully,
Daniel Friedman
561 929 8299
dfadjustmentco@Gmail.com
Daniel,
I have enough battles against very good insurance attorneys.
Thanks for the kind words.
There is fraud, but insurers take advantage of it, and nobody talks about insurer fraud. I am a board member of the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud, and it is a battle to get them to do more than pay lip service.
What insurance companies like to do is point to fraud and say they have to reduce consumer rights when they should be going after the crooks. Take the current sinkhole "crisis". We are told that people make sinkhole claims for a crack in the driveway. I believe such a claim would be fraud in some cases and could be prosecuted if the homeowner or engineers or others involved are colluding against the insurance company.
But rather that prosecuting the crooks, the proposed solution is tightening the definitions of sinkholes, limiting the time to file claims, reducing your ability to hire a public adjuster, and other measures making it harder to get the value out of your policy.
Insurance fraud is a complex financial crime, and law enforcement often has more pressing public safety issues to deal with. The solution is dedicated prosecutors and white collar crime squads. But that takes money and, of course, the legislature has no money. So, it's easier to pass a law against consumers instead of spending the money to protect consumers. Insurers profit regardless. They simply mark up their product to cover the costs. It's just a game for them, and consumers pay.
Mr. Merlin and Bill Newton,
Thank you so much for the article and sharing your comments.
I am dedicating my career to fighting the war on insurance fraud. It is so out of control. From the homeowner who purposely creates a false loss to the unethical adjuster who accepts the kickbacks from vendors or approves a fraudulent loss to the growing number of shady contractors that are constantly overbilling the insurance companies.
Where is the transparency on behalf the insurance companies in the claims department? And why is no one being held accountable?
It won't be long until this unethical behavior comes to an end.
Angie Maher
Ambassador Fraud Solutions, LLC
Mr Merlin
Very good stand on a very important issue!
I am the subject of a raid precipitated by Associated Industries of Florida's Ryan Tyson. The states attorney has dropped the politically motivated attack/case and referred it to Pam Bondi's office.
The Judge that signed the warrant is legal Council to COC. Bondi took vast campaign contributions from COC and AIF. There is glaring conflict of interest at all points in this chain of travesty.
We did not violate the law or we would have been arrested at the raid. We cannot show this unless we get out stolen equipment back from FDLE.
There is a house bill that I believe passed last Thursday to make it legal for lobbyist to fund campaigns of candidates. I am a good example as to why this is illegal in the American electoral process. I would like to talk with you about the details of our situation.
I have attached the story in this link. It was only able to list very limited information for the readers but it is a start. We are much more than " whistle-blowers".
Looking Forward
Bob Burton
http://1787network.com/2011/01/breaking-news-whistleblowers-home-raided-by-armed-fdle-agents/