171 lines
9.8 KiB
Plaintext
171 lines
9.8 KiB
Plaintext
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T h e G R E E N Y w o r l d D o m i n a t i o n T a s k F o r c e ,
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I n c o r p o r a t e d
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Presents:
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__ __ 55555555555 888888888
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_____ ____ _| |__| |_ 55 888 888
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// | \ |_ __ _| 55 888 888
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|| ____ | || | | | | | 5555555555 888888888
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|| || \ / | || | _| |__| |_ 555 888 888
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\\___// \/\/ |____/ |_ __ _| 555 888 888
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|__| |__| 55 555 888 888
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555555555 888888888
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"Confessions of an Insurance Adjuster" by Antone P. Braga
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----- GwD: The American Dream with a Twist -- of Lime ***** Issue #58 -----
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----- release date: 03-17-98 -----
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[Reprinted by permission from Antone "Tony" Braga's website:
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http://www.Ppage.net?Tony.B ]
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Confessions - Equity of Access - You Have A Perfect Right To Know
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Policyholders possess more power than they think.
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The trouble is, they don't think.
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In 1960 I hired on as an insurance adjuster trainee with a large insurance
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company in Los Angeles. I knew nothing about insurance, just like the rest of
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us. The millions of people who suffer disasters such as earthquake, hurricanes,
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fires and floods usually carry insurance, but they generally have no idea what
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they have coming, even after asking around. Just what are their claim rights,
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and how do they conceive their damage claims or partake in the process? Nearly
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everyone has been left out of the loop, partly because it's to the insurers'
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benefit to leave us out, and partly because most of us would rather hope for the
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best than prepare for the worst.
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Even by 1960 standards, my salary hardly existed; that was the catch to being
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unqualified. But I soon learned my job fairly well and started shopping for a
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better salary and territory. Working for one insurance company became about the
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same as the next. I found the work fairly simple, though I did not immediately
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realize why.
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In the late '60s I took a part-time job as well so that I could afford something
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or other that I've long since forgotten. I mention this because the sales
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manager said something to me one day that jarred me. He said, "Everything has a
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counterbalance, even insurance." I argued that, as far as I could see, no such
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counterbalance existed for me. So long as I could make the policyholders happy
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and at the same time convince my company that I had protected its interest, I
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qualified as a good adjuster.
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I was naive, of course. Have you ever tried to conscientiously represent two
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opposing people in one transaction involving potentially large differences of
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opinion? It's virtually impossible. You can't split your integrity into two
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separate parts. Do you think you might end up siding with the party who hands
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you your pay check, controls your vacations and gives you raises? Only if you
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are human!
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Sometime in 1971 I began to feel plagued by my realization that claim-adjusting
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is one-sided in favor of the company. Yet in theory, the policy language granted
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plenty of authority to the policyholder. I wondered why no policyholder ever
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seemed to exercise that authority, and why I'd never met anyone who knew
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anything about insurance adjusting from the policyholder's point of view. I
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resolved to fill that niche.
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The greatest need seemed to be in property claims. You know: your home, boat,
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car, business, etc. How could an entire population lack even a clue about
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possessions that are so dear to them?
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The answer didn't come to me right away, but it's simple really: Out of sight,
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out of mind. The insurance companies can't be expected to provide their own
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counterbalance to their policyholders, and the government won't interfere
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because there is not enough public pressure to do so. What we end up hearing
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over and over, year after year is, "You're in 'good hands,'" or something
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similar.
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In 1973 I heard of a small number of adjusters who represent policyholders
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instead of insurance companies. This idea intrigued me, especially with the
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sanction of a state license, so I became licensed. The biggest change in my work
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concerned my compensation. Previously, I had always been paid by insurance
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companies. Well, not really. They paid me not from their own coffers, but from
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policyholder premiums, the same as they do for advertising and their other
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"expenses."
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Now I had to earn my living persuading policyholders to hire me. I ask you,
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which adjuster is more legitimate: one representing the insurance company, yet
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paid from policyholder premiums, or one representing the policyholder and paid
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from the policyholder settlement? If you think about it objectively, the
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insurance company adjuster should be paid from the company's own pocket. Just
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imagine paying for an attorney who represents your opposition; then that
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attorney claims to represent you as well in the same transaction; then you pay
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for your attorney on top of that. That's how it is in the world of insurance.
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Who wants to know that you can't trust your insurance company?
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In any case, I heard of a huge fire in Santa Barbara that had destroyed hundreds
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of homes. I joined forces with two other policyholder adjusters and agreed among
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ourselves to share expenses and earnings. We scrambled to get business, yet we
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attracted few policyholders to become our clients. Those who did hook up with us
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were subjected to all sorts of pressure to cancel our contracts. The Santa
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Barbara newspaper ran a front-page "expose" of policyholder adjusters. (The
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paper said we were charging a fee for a service that was not legitimate.) Public
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officials welcomed company adjusters with open arms and let them past security
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lines to reach policyholders, while we were refused access.
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The three of us marched into the newspaper and demanded to have our side of the
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story told. The paper ultimately printed the story, but well back in the paper
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and long after the damage had been inflicted.
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As I walked along a country road about that time, a thought flashed through my
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mind: If policyholders won't hire adjusters to press their claims, why not
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enable policyholders to deal with company adjusters themselves? Why not offer
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them the fundamental information they need, like claim values, their rights and
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responsibilities, and the adjuster's authority. If I, as the policyholder
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representative bore the stigma of illegitimacy, surely the policyholders
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themselves were legitimate and entitled to rights, principles and advice. No one
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could very well argue that a policyholder in good standing is any less
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legitimate than the company itself. So I started writing a book for
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policyholders.
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I soon found to my consternation that the people who needed the information the
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most, the victims of disaster, were the least likely to comprehend. And in
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retrospect I guess I can understand why. Insurance company advertising, financed
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by policyholders, fosters confidence in the insurance company. A personal
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disaster, like a fire or flood, is stressful enough without the added burden of
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learning your confidence is misplaced.
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The other day, while visiting a law library, I was alarmed to find that in most
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states, policy wording is being changed so as to favor the insurance company;
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the policyholders' technical authority (which few policyholders ever exercise)
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is being seriously whittled away; and many regulations for insurance companies
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have been changed in the companies' favor. More so than ever, the mere
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assumption that you will receive what you deserve without knowing what it is you
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are entitled to, is just asking too much of your fellow man. Socrates never sold
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insurance, but his words apply to this industry as well as to everything else:
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"The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance."
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Tony Braga is a crusader for policyholder's rights who lives in Fall River,
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Mass. He offers free materials through his website, "Deserve"
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(http://www.sure-net.com/deserve.html).
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-----------------------------<GwD Command Centers>------------------------------
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www =-= http://www.geocities.com/Athens/2334/index.html (The GwD WebSite)
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http://solice.iglobal.net/chaos/ (Chaos, the Web-BBS)
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http://www.snakeden.org/ (The Snake's Den)
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ftp -=- gwd.snakeden.org /pub/GwD/
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ftp.etext.org /pub/Zines/Greeny/
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ftp.dto.net /pub/zines/gwd/
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telnet =-= solice.iglobal.net (Chaos, the real BBS)
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bbs.snakeden.org (log-on to da Den!)
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e-mail -=- gwd@geocities.com (Subj: subscribe GwD)
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BBS =-= The Snake's Den - (806)793-3779 -- damn right it's still dial-in
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* GwD, Inc. - P.O. Box 16038 - Lubbock, Texas 79490 *
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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"If we've learned anything in the past quarter century, it is that we cannot
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federalize virtue." -George Bush, 1991
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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-+- F Y M -+-
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GR33NY LIK3S mash3d p0tat03s
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/---------------\
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copyright (c) MCMXCVII by Antone P. Braga :FIGHT THE POWER:
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GwD Task Force copyright (c) MCMXCIII by Lobo Licious : GwD :
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All rights reserved \---------------/
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