Quiat on Claims : New York Disability Insurance Lawyer & Attorney : Michael Quiat : Uscher Quiat Uscher & Russo Law Firm : ERISA, Denied Claims

Most plaintiffs’ disability income insurance lawyers are aware of the heightened emotional and psychological needs of their clients – up to a point. Our Kathleen takes up whatever slack our clients miss in the way we communicate with them.

Although attorneys in the disability field know that their clients are usually in pain, economically behind the 8-ball and aching for some one to talk to them about all aspects of their case, attorneys are not always able to spend all of the time on the phone some clients think they require.

That’s where Our Kathleen comes in. She is a paralegal who is knowledgeable about the factual requirements of properly pursuing a disability income claim. But more than that, she seems to have a natural empathy about the human needs of the people filing such claims. And, she makes the time to talk to clients and prospective clients who call our office and need a “listener” who cares, shares and wants to help.

Every attorney in plaintiffs’ disability insurance work would do well to make sure they have an “Our Kathleen” on staff to alleviate some of the stress their clients are feeling as they pursue their claim under the most trying circumstances.

That’s if you can find another Kathleen.

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It was brought to our attention by a reader of an April 17 blog entry about ERISA discretionary clauses that there is a need in the disability insurance business for an easy way for people having business with state insurance regulators to have access to names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, etc.

This information is necessary not only to people who have complaints or suggestions for the insurance regulator in their state, but also for insurance agents and brokers for remote licensing and for attorneys who may have business or questions for the regulator.

As a service to claimants, lawyers, insurance agents and brokers we have established on the firm web site, a handy address book for all 50 states giving the pertinent information concisely.

Knowing that the information in this address book is a fluid entity, we will have the information in the address book updated periodically so that the data is not stale. We also intend to update the address book with specific addresses and phone numbers for licensing, etc. if the need arises.

So, hoping it is helpful, we offer state insurance regulators.



 

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Today’s high-speed world seems tailor made for centralized, quick-as-a-flash oversight which can keep pace with the latest trends in finances. That’s the basis for a strong push in Washington to take supervision of insurance products away from the states and hand it over to a Federal agency, the same system which was watching while the financial system crashed.

WHOA!  Not so fast. The one area of the financial world which did not go into a tailspin in the past year is the insurance industry which is generally governed by those slow-moving, conservative state insurance regulators. Three cheers for slow-moving and conservative.

Why? Because insurance companies must abide by rules set down by the 50 state regulators and these regulators were not “sophisticated” enough to jump on the free-wheeling, anything goes financial bandwagon of recent years. This saved insurers from the money meltdown and safeguarded policyholders during the current crisis.

One may point to AIG, a major insurance company, which owes the Government more than $175 billion, and say “How come?” The answer is that AIG got into a financial products operation which is the part of the company which is in deep trouble. The insurance part of the business is on a relatively even keel.

So, why race to go Federal when the states seem to have saved the day for the nation’s policyholders? In today’s rush-rush world a little time to think about consequences is needed so that the herd doesn’t stampede towards a cliff.

Remember the fable about the tortoise and the hare!

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