Insurance Claim

I’ve recently come across an interesting piece of news that was related closely to my former life. I found it in an old newspaper in the attic, or what should have been an attic, though was a functioning bedroom. The newspaper originated from a country I’m fond of, or would be if I could remember it. I’ve lived there for a considerable number of years before, and a year after, my accident. The country in question is Canada.

In this local newspaper an article was published dealing with a “loss to the community”, an “outrage”, and “something not to be forgotten, ever.” Something I had forgotten due to my accident and not the content of the piece. The title of the piece is “Burning Soul”, but “Why Insurance Companies Are The Devil” might have been a title more suitable.

In the article the author describes an incident where an insurance agency “outplayed” a man whose wife and child died in a fire. Apparently the man’s wife had a life insurance plan with the agency which paid out the life insurance only if the death was reported within two hours. Usually such agencies have a 24 hour time period, some a 48 hour period. However, the women, due to lowered payments and a higher pay-out, agreed to the two-hour limit. She knew that it was a gamble, but thought that her husband would manage to call-in in time, if and when she should die.

Well, her house caught fire, a wiring problem or something alike, and burned for a number of hours. The husband was at work during the first hour-and-a-half but managed to make it home in time to witness the roof caving in, as mentioned earlier his wife and child were in the house at the time. After another hour or so, the firemen finally put the fire out and the bodies were extracted. His wife and child were pronounced dead at the scene and the man managed to somehow collect himself and go to his car to call the insurance company. He informed them of her death minutes after he had been told she had died.

The insurance company carried out an investigation and “outplayed” the man. They had an autopsy done, which proved that the woman died fairly early in the fire, roughly ten minutes in, and thus when the man  made the call two hours had already passed. The man argued that he didn’t know she was dead, that he had called right after he had been told, etc. The company showed him the contract which said “two hours after death”, and thus he lost his claim.

There was another incident mentioned briefly in the article. One where a man in the United States, a country found south of Canada, lost his insurance claim. In his contract he agreed to the stipulation that if he was to die wearing a red article of clothing his family wouldn’t get the money. This had something to do with the line of work he was in, somehow red made him more likely to meet with an accident.

Well, the man died in a horrific accident, one best labeled bloody. There was blood all over him and the scene, but what allowed the insurance company to nullify the contract was the fact that one of the man’s socks was completely drenched in blood. They argued that it was red, and won. The man’s family got nothing.

It seems to me that insurance, especially life insurance, is suppose to make an unfortunate incident easier to bear. It is meant to, or it should be meant to, relieve certain pressures so that a person may grieve for the loved one who died.

Jakob Lint