60 Minutes viewers call foul on insurance companies
On Sunday's 60 Minutes, Lesley Stahl reported some life insurance companies don't pay benefits even when they know the policyholder is dead.
The story ensured strong reactions...and even stronger language from some viewers:
@60Minutes 😡😡 this is really upsetting! Absolutely appalling
— keisha soum... (@kenya282) April 18, 2016
That alarm led several insurance providers to try and quell customers' fears:
Hearing about Life Insurance claims payments? Rest assured @massmutual honors commitments we make to policyowners https://t.co/rOUdjeTlRp
— MassMutual (@massmutual) April 18, 2016
Some Twitter users say insurance companies have already employed the "horrible practice" on them:
@60Minutes we had 2 family members w policies...we were told "what policies?" even told were cashed in earlier...a lie! Never resolved!
— Holly (@hollyanimalover) April 17, 2016
In this string of tweets, one insurance company responded to an angry viewer who was reminded of her own unclaimed benefits:
@60Minutes My mother died on 9/20 at 67. Her birthday was 9/7 and she paid her premium with @MetLife that month. They denied the claim.
— QuiltShopGal (@QuiltShopGal) April 18, 2016
@QuiltShopGal Thanks for letting us know. We'd like to look into this-email your policy/contact info to twitterconnect@metlifeservice.com
— MetLife (@MetLife) April 18, 2016
But as Stahl reported on Sunday, there is one insurance company that is not trying to pay back those benefits. Chicago-based Kemper has been pushing for legislation around the country that would bar the states from forcing Kemper to go back and search for unpaid beneficiaries. After watching 60 Minutes' story, a U.S. Senator from Illinois called for action:
The tactics identified in this @60minutes report are troubling-I've called on Kemper Corp to disavow these practices https://t.co/X94Dwb7rLN
— Senator Dick Durbin (@SenatorDurbin) April 19, 2016
It's outrageous that insurance companies cld use tactics to deprive widows, orphans&other beneficiaries of $ that is rightfully owed to them
— Senator Dick Durbin (@SenatorDurbin) April 19, 2016
We must get to the bottom of the practices that @60Minutes identified&make sure that they are swiftly corrected: https://t.co/2BRBBbu3Zc
— Senator Dick Durbin (@SenatorDurbin) April 19, 2016