Life Insurance Companies Allegedly Profiting From U.S. Troop Deaths

The Kansas City Star:

The Missouri and Kansas insurance departments said Tuesday that they were checking for complaints over a practice in which life insurance companies were reportedly profiting from the deaths of U.S. soldiers.

Read the whole story: The Kansas City Star

Comments

[kimsmith]

03:57 PM on 08/25/2010

I went through http://buytermlife.com/Calculator.aspx to buy my term life insurance. They have experienced underwriters that helped me find the right policy for me. They have a very helpful term life insurance calculator.

[SpreadingTheWealth]

10:50 PM on 08/04/2010

Policy owners ALWAYS have the option of choosing THEMSELVES the method of benefit payment for their beneficiary - either a lump sum or an annuity.

[Capibara]

05:25 PM on 08/04/2010

"Offer to 'hold'" implies that the families of the deceased have a choice. If that is the case, then why is this a news story?

[Henri101]

05:46 PM on 08/04/2010

Deception is illegal in the insurance business; read the article in its entirety.

[jobrien1950]

04:31 PM on 08/04/2010

There were beneficiaries on the tube talking about this the other day . . .

[Artos]

03:48 PM on 08/04/2010

Repubicans, who are known to always support our troops, because they are ultra Patriotic would normally step in to correct this travesty, except for the fact that so many of them are more supportive of the Insurance Companies.They're torn between doing the right thing and retaining their support from Insurance Companies. After all they want those dollars from the Insurance Industries to fund their re-election campaigns.

[rkfdred]

03:07 PM on 08/04/2010

When my husband died the insurance companies wanted me to keep the money from his policies with them also. I told them no, send me a check for the full amount and I'll decide what to do with it. I don't think this is a new trick but they chose to try to pull it on our military families who lost love ones and finally got caught.

[Henri101]

05:47 PM on 08/04/2010

These miscreants! fanned

[1differentdrummer]

01:48 PM on 08/04/2010

Never, ever, ever think an insurance company is your friend.

[stargazer13]

01:24 PM on 08/04/2010

it seems the thieves that are doing this need to be put behind bars A.S.A.P.

[Henri101]

01:22 PM on 08/04/2010

Heartless, unconscionable acts and many bodies need to be paraded and jailed.

[HappyBalance]

12:54 PM on 08/04/2010

Someone at these companies need to go to jail for this, legal or no. This is beyond the pale of typical corporate greed.

[hulagirrrl]

12:38 PM on 08/04/2010

This story just posted today on HP, even Katie Couric already reported on this. Normally I would not care, but HP is always beating certain stories to ground meat, like Tiger Wood for example, now this here is something that should have been headline, at least I expected it to be on HP... I am disappointed.

[princeza]

01:47 PM on 08/04/2010

Dylan Raitgan has been covering this for a few days already on his show. HP picked this one up really late.

[Martha T]

12:33 PM on 08/04/2010

and we are surprised after a decade of diminishing the care and respect our veterans receive by none other than the patriotic, warrior Repugs? and once again, many middle class members will vote for REPUGS, hate he. The American people are an enigma and very stupid at that!

[amaboss52]

12:40 PM on 08/04/2010

My mom always used to say "never underestimate the stupidity of the American people when they go into the voting booth", true that.

[HappyBalance]

12:56 PM on 08/04/2010

I disagree. People have been waking up. I think this fall you will see many people stay home out of disgust for both parties and also rise in voting for 3rd parties. I often think if those people who just watch the mainstream media are seriously ill informed. Takes time and effort to dig for better news sources. Not everyone has the time to do so.

[BannedFromCommenting]

12:30 PM on 08/04/2010

Wait, by all accounts this is an OPTION the family can CHOOSE. So who is not informing the beneficiaries? They won't profit if the family declines and takes a one time check.

[hulagirrrl]

12:41 PM on 08/04/2010

The fact that the money is not covered by FDIC is in very small print on the bottom of the paper, if you have just lost a loved one, would you really check all these financial things out? Most people are probably hesitant to take the money because of the situation. The insurance companies are not passing enough of the profit on to the consumer, that is wrong.

[Jayk4444]

12:54 PM on 08/04/2010

policy forms for life insurance contracts indicate the rate of return on settlement accounts, etc. at the time of purchase.....the buyer pays the premium and performs their part of the contract, the company pays upon death at the rate of return declared in the contract. Pretty standard stuff and your opinion on 'enough' has nothign to do with the contract specifications.

[amaboss52]

12:44 PM on 08/04/2010

Yep its okay that instead of applying the profits (in the form of interest) from the insurance payout back to the beneficiary, since it is their money, the insurance company makes the profits instead. So in that form its okay by you right? Never mind that the interest made off these accounts should go back into the payout and not into the pockets of these grifter insurance companies.

[Bronxdude]

12:20 PM on 08/04/2010

This is not news, since parasitic insurance companies have been raping Americans for decades.

[virmal]

12:34 PM on 08/04/2010

You nailed it right on the head.

The fact that these fatcats are home safe and enjoying the view of their rubber plants in their plush suites is because our soldiers are willing to give up everything to keep the country safe.

When reminded of the high casualty count in Iraq, apparently Cheney remarked that it was collateral damage.

Don't these guys (chickenhawks) have any morals? shame??

The insurance companies should be forced to give back to the families of the fallen service members every penny owed, including all the interest pocketed, and penalized an extra amount for adding insult to an injury.

[amaboss52]

12:45 PM on 08/04/2010

Apparently the repubes like being gouged and raped repeatedly in their lifetimes, and think that the rest of us should like it too.

[OBroadhurst]

12:16 PM on 08/04/2010

Some Republican politician somewhere will proclaim this to be Patriotic.

[hulagirrrl]

12:42 PM on 08/04/2010

Yes, and I would like to hear about the money that the military is paying to the insurance companies, well if not the military the government is giving them something for these policies. So, the person overseeing these contracts on the government side should be investigated ASAP.