Yes Alan, but it was a really good deal, I couldnt afford the real thing, so I just figured this was the next best thing. And if I coulnt afford it any more than I figured I could just cancel it without any concequences.
Kind of reminds me of a friend whose wife’s credit card was stolen. The thief was spending less than my friend’s wife, so he never reported it. Such a deal, fake insurance!!! YIKES!!!
Good article. From the consumer viewpoint everything is great, as long as they don’t have a claim. And if they are swindled, a consumer may think they are protected by their government somehow…
The NAIC should also run a survey on real insurance products sold by agents who sell (either verbally or on printed proposals) something totally different than the actual delivered policy. This is fraud of another nature in and of itself –and is much more prevalent than 200,000 totally bogus policies!
Mr. Bob you kept paying premiums for fake insurance because you had no claims and the rates were low?? Scary!! This is why we need stronger criminal laws for selling and marketing authorized insurance.
Integrity you are correct about hidden fraud. There are those organizations that enter the front door posing as a defender of the small business person, the defender of self employed people, they are there to help small business fight their battles in Washington. Hogwash! They are there to sell health insurance, period! Their radio advertise makes them sound like the Mother Teresa of the self employed and small business. At my office I’ve received calls from these people. They are very creative in their approach to gain a meeting. There have been one or two times that , as soon as I ask if they want to talk about health insurance they hang up on me. I don’t know but it just seems a bit strange to call me, an insurance person, to sell insurance to. Call me silly but I find it like trying to sell coffee to Starbucks.
What I have found is that many of the sales team have never before been in the insurance business and have been recruited with promises of riches and fame.
If you enter my door posing as one thing but have the intent of another thing…..it is only a small step for the unethical to not include that needed chemo rider. What the heck that chemo rider raises the premium and the unethical that took the step may miss out on the sale if it was added.
IMHO I don’t think that an insurance sales operation should be able to work under a name that presents itself as something other than an insurance sales organization. If I remember the many years I spent as a Registered Rep. there were certain rules to follow when naming an office.
Mr. Bob,
Like ono and Alan I’m amazed that you would keep paying premiums on what you knew to be fake insurance. Its because people do foolish things like this that these scam companies exist.
I’m wondering if you would be interested in an invisible Armani suit – only $1000! :)
It is amazing what dishonest people can do with a good, honest program. VEBAs have been around since the 1920s. Unfortunately, very few are presented to small businesses. Even fewer offer health insurance. None that I know of offer COBRA past the minimum required periods.
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Yes Alan, but it was a really good deal, I couldnt afford the real thing, so I just figured this was the next best thing. And if I coulnt afford it any more than I figured I could just cancel it without any concequences.
Kind of reminds me of a friend whose wife’s credit card was stolen. The thief was spending less than my friend’s wife, so he never reported it. Such a deal, fake insurance!!! YIKES!!!
The Industry needs to go after these people – not just let someone else worry about it. It would also be good PR for the companies that catch them.
I had fake insurance before. But I never had a claim, and the premium was very low, so I decided to keep it.
Good article. From the consumer viewpoint everything is great, as long as they don’t have a claim. And if they are swindled, a consumer may think they are protected by their government somehow…
The NAIC should also run a survey on real insurance products sold by agents who sell (either verbally or on printed proposals) something totally different than the actual delivered policy. This is fraud of another nature in and of itself –and is much more prevalent than 200,000 totally bogus policies!
Mr. Bob you kept paying premiums for fake insurance because you had no claims and the rates were low?? Scary!! This is why we need stronger criminal laws for selling and marketing authorized insurance.
Integrity you are correct about hidden fraud. There are those organizations that enter the front door posing as a defender of the small business person, the defender of self employed people, they are there to help small business fight their battles in Washington. Hogwash! They are there to sell health insurance, period! Their radio advertise makes them sound like the Mother Teresa of the self employed and small business. At my office I’ve received calls from these people. They are very creative in their approach to gain a meeting. There have been one or two times that , as soon as I ask if they want to talk about health insurance they hang up on me. I don’t know but it just seems a bit strange to call me, an insurance person, to sell insurance to. Call me silly but I find it like trying to sell coffee to Starbucks.
What I have found is that many of the sales team have never before been in the insurance business and have been recruited with promises of riches and fame.
If you enter my door posing as one thing but have the intent of another thing…..it is only a small step for the unethical to not include that needed chemo rider. What the heck that chemo rider raises the premium and the unethical that took the step may miss out on the sale if it was added.
IMHO I don’t think that an insurance sales operation should be able to work under a name that presents itself as something other than an insurance sales organization. If I remember the many years I spent as a Registered Rep. there were certain rules to follow when naming an office.
Mr. Bob,
Like ono and Alan I’m amazed that you would keep paying premiums on what you knew to be fake insurance. Its because people do foolish things like this that these scam companies exist.
I’m wondering if you would be interested in an invisible Armani suit – only $1000! :)
It is amazing what dishonest people can do with a good, honest program. VEBAs have been around since the 1920s. Unfortunately, very few are presented to small businesses. Even fewer offer health insurance. None that I know of offer COBRA past the minimum required periods.