Off The Cuff

Insurance Scams--Look Who Is Scamming Now!

I have heard of insurance scams for years. Some guys/gals end up in court and go to jail, some don't and keep on doing their thing taking money from the unsuspecting. This time, there is a major insurance scam but...are you ready?...the scammer is the insurance company!! Oh yeah. Remember State Farm, "like a good neighbor, State Farm is there"? I do. I certainly remember those commercials about State Farm with the nice little jingle that you don't forget for a while. As you probably do, I recall that they were one of the most respected companies in the country. They had a great reputation.

What I want you to do now is remember that name, State Farm, because I have a feeling they are in for a whole lot of lawsuits. Seems that they decided to put off paying up on the damage from Katrina in Mississippi. Well, they were dragging their insurance feet for about 15 months without paying out to their own clients, some 35,000 people. They STILL haven't paid many of them. You know the ones, those folks who have been paying them faithfully for years? I am certain that many people were insurance poor because they had to pay premiums on this thing and that thing. One couple from Mississippi, who had just completely renovated their home when Katrina hit, asked State Farm to pay up on their insurance claim. In order to get the company to pay them they had to sue, move out of state and completely start over before the insurance company finally handed the check over.

Please remember State Farm, the "like a good neighbor" company. You can attach the words greedy, impersonal and scam artists to their names now. Oh, and they are no longer going to have new policies for the people of Mississippi, the state in which they are the largest insurer. I can see it now that Mississippi residents are in for a lot of problems with this company, even those who didn't get any damage. You can see it too. The premiums are going to go sky high, especially for tornado and flood coverage. If those folks do not change companies, it is going to be a bigger nightmare than it already is. Of course, then if State Farm does this, naturally it opens the door for the rest to follow.

At some point, it will be impossible to get that type of coverage in that state or in any of the other states that had damage from Katrina or the other hurricanes or tornadoes resulting from that time of extreme weather. In fact, it would not surprise me to find out that insurance companies will no longer insure anyone in such a high risk area. What does that mean to Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida? Simply that they will no longer be wonderful places to buy a home because people cannot have their homes insured. And for anyone who has not bought a home lately, you must have insurance in order to get a loan on a home. This is truly the SHAME OF AMERICA when the greed outweighs the health and wellbeing of people.

It's a bit hard to wrap your mind around it, huh? Okay, here's the thing. The insurance company comes along and being the largest insurer in the state locks folks into paying them lots and lots of cash, monthly payments for land, houses, cars, furniture, life, you name it, they insure you for it. They take loads of money from you for years and because they have been one of the "trusted" names in insurance, you are completely confident in the fact that, should the time come to need them, "like a good neighbor" they will be right there on your doorstep, check in hand. What a crock. This upstanding company is likely to be a good neighbor in bankruptcy court in no time, right after they get sued and sued and sued because they won't make good on their end of that contract they made with the insured after the insured has paid and paid and paid.

State Farm, like a greedy neighbor

Feb. 15, 2007 — State Farm, Mississippi's largest home insurer, says that starting Friday it won't write new policies in the state, in part because of increased litigation after the damage caused to Mississippi homes by Hurricane Katrina.

Some are calling the move heartless, while others are calling it just plain greedy. Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood says that State Farm's tactics have hurt thousands in his state.

So now I, like a good neighbor, am telling you about the greed of this company. I am certain that they have their side to the story too. I can guess what it is. We are now going broke because we actually have to pay out on the claims, unlike in the past when we only had to pay occasionally. This is different, therefore, we can't afford it so we fight it claiming we do not owe them or we will drag our feet until they go broke and can't sue us anymore.

That's all from the SHAME OF AMERICA for now.