[OT] Why do insurance companies have to make things so complicated?

Kreisleriana wrote:
On Mon, 3 Apr 2006 21:44:20 -0600, "Monique Y. Mudama"
yodeled:



To give you the short answer, I really, really believe that they make
it so difficult because they hope you will give up and not file your
claim. I am sure that this works in many cases.

This was actually proposed in the 80s and 90s by the anti-welfare
think tanks, as a way to discourage people from filing-- make the
process so confusing and unpleasant that people will just give up and
go away.

I think that is true; and particularly true of HMO's back in the 90's.
Even though we didn't have to file the claims ourselves, the process of
getting an "authorization number"--which you *had* to have or they
wouldn't pay the claim--got very difficult. I never filed a claim that
wasn't denied the first time. Every time. I still think they did
everything in their power to wiggle out of paying a claim, including
making it as difficult as they could for the patient.

Sherry