Katrina: Profit over People
(CBS)
All Blog Posts from Primary Source
Read all 'insurance' posts in Primary Source
August 22, 2007 7:09 PM In the coming days we’re going to see more and more stories set around the pain and heartbreak that is Hurricane Katrina -- Two Years Later. More and more stories like the one we did on Rodney Freeman, which arrived in a most unusual way. Producer Michael Rey and I had just finished doing an interview about formaldehyde in FEMA trailers in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, when we stopped at a bar down the street for something cool to drink. Inside, around a horseshoe counter sat a group of local folks, a story on every stool.
June 21, 2007 11:02 AM
RICO Case Filed Against Katrina Insurer
State Farm is the first insurance company to have a RICO complaint filed against it over Katrina-related insurance claims. RICO stands for Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations and is a federal law used primarily to take down criminal organizations like the Mafia.
The complaint was filed Thursday in the Southern District of Mississippi by veteran trial lawyer Dickie Scruggs on behalf of two hundred plaintiffs in the class-action suit against the insurer and at least one of the engineering firms it hired to do inspections of storm-damaged homes along the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
The complaint was filed Thursday in the Southern District of Mississippi by veteran trial lawyer Dickie Scruggs on behalf of two hundred plaintiffs in the class-action suit against the insurer and at least one of the engineering firms it hired to do inspections of storm-damaged homes along the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
May 24, 2007 11:15 AM 
I’ve always considered myself a fortunate man. Great job, great family, great home. For the life of me I never thought I’d include “great group health plan” on that list, that is, until we started digging into the individual insurance market.
For virtually all of my working life my family and I have been covered under a large health umbrella with thousands of other company employees. During that time I’ve paid thousands more in premiums than were ever been paid out, and that’s okay, because so-called “shared risk” is what large group plans are all about.
But not, it appears, individual insurance.
If you’ve been watching our reporting you’ll see how companies like to “cherry pick” only the healthiest of applicants, to the point where one expert said you have to be an “android” to get selected. I laughed until I got a good look at a “Health History Questionaire,” quickly realizing that despite the fact I’m in far better shape than most middle-aged males, I’ve got virtually no shot at ever qualifying for this kind of coverage.
Let’s begin at the beginning with this “Yes or No” question:
Insurance Brick Wall
(AP / CBS)
For virtually all of my working life my family and I have been covered under a large health umbrella with thousands of other company employees. During that time I’ve paid thousands more in premiums than were ever been paid out, and that’s okay, because so-called “shared risk” is what large group plans are all about.
But not, it appears, individual insurance.
If you’ve been watching our reporting you’ll see how companies like to “cherry pick” only the healthiest of applicants, to the point where one expert said you have to be an “android” to get selected. I laughed until I got a good look at a “Health History Questionaire,” quickly realizing that despite the fact I’m in far better shape than most middle-aged males, I’ve got virtually no shot at ever qualifying for this kind of coverage.
Let’s begin at the beginning with this “Yes or No” question:
Has any person listed on this application, in the last 10 years (their bold), had any signs, symptoms, seen a health care provider, had treatment recommended, including prescription medications, received treatment, or been hospitalized for any of the following conditions…
Author Thomas Friedman on Obama's Afghanistan plan and the war on terror.
