Insurance

Sitting thru my employer’s mandatory benefits workshop reconfirmed my belief that health insurance is institutionalized insanity. There must be a better way. I’ve never liked the concept of health insurance. It seems wrong to me at the very core. It feels like a perverse form of gambling. You’re putting down all this money against the […]

Michael gave me a lift early Sunday morning to pick up the car from where Xy had abandoned it on Airline Highway the night before. It wouldn’t start. While we were unloading her Xmas shopping a cop pulled up and chastised us for leaving the car there overnight. He waited while I called Progressive Roadside […]

Humana P.O. Box 14546 Lexington KY 40512-4610 Sept. 2, 2009 Dear Humana, I recently took my daughter to a doctor in our neighborhood. I took special care to make sure this doctor was a “participating provider,” because I know how important that is to you. (I made the mistake of going to a “non participating […]

Got my first-ever flu shot yesterday. At least I think it was my first ever. I don’t remember getting them as a kid. When I was at the doctor’s office, I noticed he’s dropping my insurer. If I want to stay with him, I need to get health insurance through another provider. Of course, I […]

I tremble in abject fear every time we get a letter from our insurer. So many people have been screwed by these insurance companies. We’ve done well by our local agent (Dan Burghardt), but I get the feeling the big companies that actually provide our flood and homeowners’ insurance (Fidelity and Lexington, respectively) would like […]

I’m proud of my neighbor, co-worker and friend Michael Homan, who will testify before the US Senate on Wednesday. Go man go.

The Times-Picayune publishes their tenth story about us this morning.

So our mortgage company is holding the insurance money for renovating our house. They cut a check months ago when our contractor first submitted a bid, for one-third of the estimated total. A couple months ago they sent an inspector along to confirm that work has been underway. They cut another check for the next […]

On August 23rd of last year, one week before Katrina, I started a letter to the CEO of Aetna (my insurer through my employer). I’m preoccupied with other matters now, so I doubt I’ll ever complete this letter, much less send it. An open letter to Dr. John W. Rowe, Chief Executive Officer of Aetna […]

I urge every insurance policy holder in Louisiana to support SB 620 and HB 510. If you want to know why, read Michael’s impassioned address to our state legislature. (Well done, man!)

My friend Michael is fighting back. Anyone else out there in America who pays money to Big Insurance Companies — I hope you’re paying attention to what’s going on down here, because it’s a travesty.

I recently got an update to our homeowner’s policy. It’s something like a hundred pages long. Past updates were only a few pages. I’m supposed to wade through all this legalese? I’d have to hire a lawyer just to find out how badly we’re getting screwed. A quick glance reveals there’s a “trampoline exclusion” and […]

A check arrived from our insurer via FedEx today in the amount of $3,000. It says, right on the check, that it’s “partial settlement of contents damage arising from loss on 08/29/05.” The date issued, again printed right on the check itself, is October 18th. Note that it is now November 25th. All of this […]

A fire broke out at the local A&P yesterday, and the store was still closed today. So I went to the Sav-A-Center on Tchoupitoulas to buy ingredients for curried tomato bisque. Wow. All registers were open, yet the lines were so long that they extened into the grocery ailses. The wait was so long I […]

Just talked to Roland Graybill, our flood adjuster. He assured me that he completed our claims last week. It’s just a matter of waiting for Fidelity, our insurer, to cut us a check. Then things will get really complicated, because our mortgage company wants to put the money in escrow and dole it out piecemeal […]

Just got a call from Mr. McCann, the adjuster for our homeowner’s policy. I call him “the wind guy” because he’s covering the damage to our home caused by Katrina’s winds. Flood is covered under a separate policy with a separate adjuster. Anyway, the wind guy says we’ll be getting $8,688 plus tax and some […]

My mother-in-law is faxing the following claim to our insurance adjuster for the contents of our house which were ruined by floodwaters. I estimate our losses at $43,000. We were insured for $25,000, with a $1,000 deductible, so I’m expecting a full payout. Utility Room: $13,000 Washer, dryer, bicycles, power tools, desk, magazine rack, Sunsetter […]

We’re dealing with two insurance adjusters — one for flood damage, and one for wind damage. It’s not the most convenient arrangement, but I’m not complaining. At least our insurance company (Fidelity) has been fairly responsive. Some friends have been unable to contact anyone even after calling their insurance company every day for a month. […]

Just met with Roland Graybill, the adjuster for our flood claim, a lean, long-haired Southern dude. Affable. He took some measurements and some photos and some notes. I learned that the insurance will not be “paying limits” as previously intimated. Instead we’ll get some lesser amount which Mr. Graybill seemed to think would be enough […]

I talked to our insurance adjuster the other night, a guy named Roland Graybill. I told him that to the best of our knowledge the first floor of our home was flooded with up to six feet of water, and has been sitting in water for a couple of weeks now. He said that in […]

Tag: Insurance

Institutionalized Insanity

Vehicular Challenge

Dear Humana

Flu Shot

Whew

Dr. Homan Goes to Washington

Story X

Check’s in the Mail

An Unfinished Letter

620 & 510

Fighting Back

Check

Say What?

Waiting for Payouts

Homeowner’s

Contents Claim

The Wind Guy

Adjusted

“Paying Limits”