The bought and paid for legislators in the Peoples Republic of Michigan are just paying back their major campaign contributors, the plaintiffs lawyers and their bogus association, ATLA. The same thing is happening in Congress. Notice the impostor in the White House with his socialist takeover of the health care sector explicitly rejects tort reform that would certainly include limits on or elimination of punitive damages.
I agree with Claimsguy that this is political payback for campign funding. Sadly, it is also indicative of what’s wrong in our country. Plaintff attorneys using the ruse of protecting the public’s interests while lining their pockets with the public’s money. After all, the costs and settlements of these claims come from policyholder-paid premiums, just like the costs of class action lawsuits, don’t they? It is all a perversion of our system of civil justice and the law profession should be ashamed of itself for going so far. (Today, attorneys routinely shop for plaintiffs in their frequent TV commercials, which they would probably tout as informative to the public, if askled about them.) By the way, doesn’t this whole process sound like politicians’ treatment of the public? They profess to represent us while taking our tax money and directing it to their favorite projects, campaign contributors and special interest groups so they can get elected and re-elected, with help from an election process so plainly favoring incumbency. As I see it, the sad truth is that the only interest these plaintiff attorneys and politicians protect is their own. We’re just the vehicle they use to accomplish that end. And what do we get? To pay the bill for it all. What a racket!
Term limits are already in place in Michigan. Term limits are not the answer but the problem. Every State Rep is a lame duck from the day they are elected and all they think about is what they are going to do once they get and how to leverage their time in office for personal gain. Be rest assured if these bills pass the sponsors will get nice jobs in some plaintiffs’ law firm as thanks for a job well done.
I was taught in grade school (in Michigan, though I no longer live there) that nature abhors a vacuum. Later in life, I learned that the legal system does, also. Michigan has not had first party bad faith liability, and so ordinary policyholders are left with no remedy if their benefits are wrongfully withheld or denied. Judges and juries don’t like wrongs without remedies, and as recently happened in Minnesota, eventually either the appellate courts or the legislature comes up with a remedy. Usually, the insurance industry won’t like that remedy. Perhaps what needs to happen is that the industry needs to agree there needs to be some remedy, a real remedy and not just the prospect of administrative hearings (oh, the horror, an administrative hearing), that provides those wrongly deprived of insurance benefits with a means to recover their benefits and have their lawyers paid for doing so. Maybe, then, the pendulum won’t be inclined to swing too far the other way.
Of course, that’s just my opinion, and I could be wrong…
The trick with term limits is to cut them off at the pass. Don’t actually limit the term, but reward them mightily for not sticking around for too long. Something like maximum pension vested after serving 12 years in either house of Congress and it goes down for every term after that.
Not sure that would work as well as I think it would, but the only way to control systems is with negative feedback, otherwise, they oscillate out of control which is what we have now with the positive feedback system currently in place in Congress and probably a lot of state legislatures.
BTW, to get back on topic, it doesn’t look like the article actually said what’s in the Michigan bills. It gives a vague description, “creates additional causes of action” and never gets more specific. Hello – it would be nice if the magazine gave its readers enough info to make up their own minds, or at least a link to another source.
Michigan is proof term limits don’t work. We only end up with an incompetent and inexperienced politician. Nobody genuinely understands how things work.
All politicians, local, state and federal, are more or less corrupt and equally incompetent, or they’d be employed in the private sector, which few of them ever were. But legislators with or without term limits aren’t as dangerous to our industry as self-dealing incompetent state regulators, meaning insurance commissioners. Those in the 13 states that allow them to be elected are especially bad, not that the appointed ones are much better. They just got a new one in Delaware, no education, no business experience, just lies lies lies to get into office. That’s not a good thing with so many insurers and reinsurers incorporated there. Delaware’s always been notoriously shady, but this one takes the cake. On the other hand, the bigger they think they are, the harder they fall. The one in Kansas just went to jail for a good long time. Now that’s a good thing.
sounds like not only the michigan congress, but the US CONGRESS! they have been in the office for so long, they don’t look at the issues for the overall health of our country. they have a tendency to look at local issues for example the steroid issue in baseball. this is not a national crisis but a parent company whereas the the employees within the local company are playing their own game within the game. but in this case, it was not against any rule of baseball to not use steroids. in many cases, steroids is used to help with recovering from injuries. granted some used for other purposes. but according to the game, this was not against the rules.
bad faith! yes, it causes problems, if companies are not trying to resolve claims. but then again, we talk about those who commit fraud and this drives up insurance rates. as a congressional member, they should be protecting the consumer and the company at the same time. finding a happy medium. we currently have our courts full of frivilous lawsuits. it takes forever to clear (several years, in most cases). the consumer should not have to continue to pay a lawyer for so long because we are holding court years from now.
You don’t get it either. Term limits don’t work. It makes it worse because the elected are just looking for the golden parachute for when they leave office. This set of bills is a symptom of what happens when you have term limits. Most here in Michigan (at least those who see what is happening) would love to see term limits repealed. It just does not help.
The article says:
“Insurance companies are angry that we are listening to real people hurt by the company’s unfair practice, and not just their high-priced lobbyists,” said another sponsor, Rep. Mike Simpson (D-Jackson), whose family was forced into bankruptcy after fighting an insurance company to get them to live up to their promises after his daughter died from cancer.
As an insurance industry worker in health AND work comp, and as a medical analyst w/in the industry, the above is a load of hooey. When people “go bankrupt” because an insurance company wouldn’t pay for experimental procedures, that is their decision. If insurance paid for all the experimental, non peer-reviewed procedures that have ZERO efficacy established, we WOULD be broke. Not covering experimental procedures, which was likely what was denied, above, is one of the means insurance companies employ diligently to contain costs in an effort to avoid spending everyones money on unproven so-called medical practices.
Clearly BOTH sides of the story are not being told here. It is all skewed to the left, to the entitlement side of the aisle. This is probably also one arm of the democrat machine to feed into obamacare and the eventual elmination of the private health sector. God help us all.
If the insurers were doing their job correctly then there shouldn’t be a problem with the new bill. Not paying claims seems to be the best practice for insurers to generate greater profits. I believe the insurers hayday is about to come to an end for all of us nationwide.
I had a large amount of theft from my business due to a break-in and now when it comes time to need your insurance to work for you, well it doesn’t,they want to not pay for your losses for what you have paid for and can be proved.
The bought and paid for legislators in the Peoples Republic of Michigan are just paying back their major campaign contributors, the plaintiffs lawyers and their bogus association, ATLA. The same thing is happening in Congress. Notice the impostor in the White House with his socialist takeover of the health care sector explicitly rejects tort reform that would certainly include limits on or elimination of punitive damages.
I agree with Claimsguy that this is political payback for campign funding. Sadly, it is also indicative of what’s wrong in our country. Plaintff attorneys using the ruse of protecting the public’s interests while lining their pockets with the public’s money. After all, the costs and settlements of these claims come from policyholder-paid premiums, just like the costs of class action lawsuits, don’t they? It is all a perversion of our system of civil justice and the law profession should be ashamed of itself for going so far. (Today, attorneys routinely shop for plaintiffs in their frequent TV commercials, which they would probably tout as informative to the public, if askled about them.) By the way, doesn’t this whole process sound like politicians’ treatment of the public? They profess to represent us while taking our tax money and directing it to their favorite projects, campaign contributors and special interest groups so they can get elected and re-elected, with help from an election process so plainly favoring incumbency. As I see it, the sad truth is that the only interest these plaintiff attorneys and politicians protect is their own. We’re just the vehicle they use to accomplish that end. And what do we get? To pay the bill for it all. What a racket!
Can you say term limits!
@Danno:
Term limits are already in place in Michigan. Term limits are not the answer but the problem. Every State Rep is a lame duck from the day they are elected and all they think about is what they are going to do once they get and how to leverage their time in office for personal gain. Be rest assured if these bills pass the sponsors will get nice jobs in some plaintiffs’ law firm as thanks for a job well done.
I was taught in grade school (in Michigan, though I no longer live there) that nature abhors a vacuum. Later in life, I learned that the legal system does, also. Michigan has not had first party bad faith liability, and so ordinary policyholders are left with no remedy if their benefits are wrongfully withheld or denied. Judges and juries don’t like wrongs without remedies, and as recently happened in Minnesota, eventually either the appellate courts or the legislature comes up with a remedy. Usually, the insurance industry won’t like that remedy. Perhaps what needs to happen is that the industry needs to agree there needs to be some remedy, a real remedy and not just the prospect of administrative hearings (oh, the horror, an administrative hearing), that provides those wrongly deprived of insurance benefits with a means to recover their benefits and have their lawyers paid for doing so. Maybe, then, the pendulum won’t be inclined to swing too far the other way.
Of course, that’s just my opinion, and I could be wrong…
The trick with term limits is to cut them off at the pass. Don’t actually limit the term, but reward them mightily for not sticking around for too long. Something like maximum pension vested after serving 12 years in either house of Congress and it goes down for every term after that.
Not sure that would work as well as I think it would, but the only way to control systems is with negative feedback, otherwise, they oscillate out of control which is what we have now with the positive feedback system currently in place in Congress and probably a lot of state legislatures.
BTW, to get back on topic, it doesn’t look like the article actually said what’s in the Michigan bills. It gives a vague description, “creates additional causes of action” and never gets more specific. Hello – it would be nice if the magazine gave its readers enough info to make up their own minds, or at least a link to another source.
Michigan is proof term limits don’t work. We only end up with an incompetent and inexperienced politician. Nobody genuinely understands how things work.
… and it will only get worse. two-thirds of the state Senate is term-limited out in 2010.
All politicians, local, state and federal, are more or less corrupt and equally incompetent, or they’d be employed in the private sector, which few of them ever were. But legislators with or without term limits aren’t as dangerous to our industry as self-dealing incompetent state regulators, meaning insurance commissioners. Those in the 13 states that allow them to be elected are especially bad, not that the appointed ones are much better. They just got a new one in Delaware, no education, no business experience, just lies lies lies to get into office. That’s not a good thing with so many insurers and reinsurers incorporated there. Delaware’s always been notoriously shady, but this one takes the cake. On the other hand, the bigger they think they are, the harder they fall. The one in Kansas just went to jail for a good long time. Now that’s a good thing.
sounds like not only the michigan congress, but the US CONGRESS! they have been in the office for so long, they don’t look at the issues for the overall health of our country. they have a tendency to look at local issues for example the steroid issue in baseball. this is not a national crisis but a parent company whereas the the employees within the local company are playing their own game within the game. but in this case, it was not against any rule of baseball to not use steroids. in many cases, steroids is used to help with recovering from injuries. granted some used for other purposes. but according to the game, this was not against the rules.
bad faith! yes, it causes problems, if companies are not trying to resolve claims. but then again, we talk about those who commit fraud and this drives up insurance rates. as a congressional member, they should be protecting the consumer and the company at the same time. finding a happy medium. we currently have our courts full of frivilous lawsuits. it takes forever to clear (several years, in most cases). the consumer should not have to continue to pay a lawyer for so long because we are holding court years from now.
@ Wudchuck
@Wudchuck
You don’t get it either. Term limits don’t work. It makes it worse because the elected are just looking for the golden parachute for when they leave office. This set of bills is a symptom of what happens when you have term limits. Most here in Michigan (at least those who see what is happening) would love to see term limits repealed. It just does not help.
The article says:
“Insurance companies are angry that we are listening to real people hurt by the company’s unfair practice, and not just their high-priced lobbyists,” said another sponsor, Rep. Mike Simpson (D-Jackson), whose family was forced into bankruptcy after fighting an insurance company to get them to live up to their promises after his daughter died from cancer.
As an insurance industry worker in health AND work comp, and as a medical analyst w/in the industry, the above is a load of hooey. When people “go bankrupt” because an insurance company wouldn’t pay for experimental procedures, that is their decision. If insurance paid for all the experimental, non peer-reviewed procedures that have ZERO efficacy established, we WOULD be broke. Not covering experimental procedures, which was likely what was denied, above, is one of the means insurance companies employ diligently to contain costs in an effort to avoid spending everyones money on unproven so-called medical practices.
Clearly BOTH sides of the story are not being told here. It is all skewed to the left, to the entitlement side of the aisle. This is probably also one arm of the democrat machine to feed into obamacare and the eventual elmination of the private health sector. God help us all.
Very well put! Applaud your post!
If the insurers were doing their job correctly then there shouldn’t be a problem with the new bill. Not paying claims seems to be the best practice for insurers to generate greater profits. I believe the insurers hayday is about to come to an end for all of us nationwide.
I had a large amount of theft from my business due to a break-in and now when it comes time to need your insurance to work for you, well it doesn’t,they want to not pay for your losses for what you have paid for and can be proved.