by Ray Bourhis
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Product Description
Joan Hangarter bought a disability policy in 1990 to protect her in case of serious illness. When she did become disabled a decade later, she ended up homeless and on welfare when the company refused to pay. With the help of her attorney, Ray Bourhis, she fought back, winning a $7.7 million verdict against the company.
In "Insult to Injury, Bourhis walks readers through this case study in bad faith double-dealing by insurance providers. Bourhis, a national champion of policy-holder rights, uses an engaging narrative style to reveal the back-room strategic mind-set that drives these illegal practices, how low-level employees are duped into unethical conduct, and how insurers manipulate data and witnesses in the few cases that do go to trial. He also explains the key regulatory oversights that encourage such corruption, and how the American legal system actually facilitates insurer fraud. "Insult to Injury closes with a roadmap to reform -- advice no one who holds a policy can afford to ignore.
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 This book should be required reading for every policyholder!, 2008-06-22
Ray Bourhis has written a shocking expose' of the games and scams of the insurance industry. In my experience as a claims adjuster, I've found that policyholders and claimants try their best to be nice. At the same time, because they don't usually read their policies, they are completely at the mercy of the insurance companies in the claims process. The insurance companies, for the most part, control the claims process. That is, unless you know how to take control of the claims process. Bourhis chronicles the bad faith of the companies. Knowledge is power, and once you're informed, you can do something to protect yourself. Great job, Ray!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
A family tradegy!, 2007-05-13
The author gives us an inside look at what happens when someone goes through the process of filing a disability claim and being denied benefits. This book does an excellent job of preparing you to handle a very difficult process that could lead you to personal and financial
disaster.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Insurance Company Practices Exposed--But What to Do?, 2006-07-30
Ray Bourhis has done a masterful job of telling the story of his client, Joan Hangartner, (and several others) in their battle with the Unum-Provident disability giant. This book is an easy read that will terrify anyone who is thinking about making a claim against a disability insurance policy. As Bourhis points out, Unum is no worse than any of the others--the disability insurance companies have "done the math" and figure out that denying valid claims and forcing people to litigate for years if very profitable for the companies.
The disability insurance companies don't care about getting hit every once in a while like the massive verdict he got on behalf of Dr. Hangartner... their profits are still enormous. Bourhis also does a great job (discouraging as it is) of showing how most states lack any real "bad faith" laws that can be used to discourage the disability insurance companies from continuing to look after themselves before their insureds. Finally, Bourhis accurately shows that there is no effective meaningful oversite of the insurance industry by the federal government.
Simply, it takes lawsuits like his to break down the veil of secrecy that the insurance companies hide behind.
In short, if you like to read legal non-fiction, (and you like, for example the Gerry Spence books about his trials) then you will enjoy this book
2 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
 Don't quit your day job..., 2006-03-14
When you read this book it is very clear that Mr. Bourhis is writing it from a plaintiff's attorney point-of-view. Which is fine, just accept that fact when you read the book and know that the book is very one-sided and filled with only partial truths.
In his book he slays insurance companies, UnumProvident in particular, for not being fair, objective, or reasonable in their claim handling practices. Mr. Bourhis is neither fair, objective, nor reasonable in his depiction of insurance claims.
Mr. Bourhis clearly thinks a lot more of himself and his legal prowess. His writing skills, however, leave a lot to be desired. I had to laugh at some of his descriptions of UnumProvident employees. Example - "I don't know where insurance companies find these people but Ryan seemed like yet another excessively clean-cut looking guy - the kind of fellow you might expect to see wearing a white uniform and selling ice cream cones at Disneyland."
What did you think, Mr. Bourhis, that insurance companies only hire the "wolves in sheep's' clothing"? Did you expect all claim examiners to look like witches and ogres out to terrorize the villagers and eat their children? This is, after all, another vicious attempt by insurance companies to charm and disarm the claimant so they can swoop in for the kill, you know.
You will also notice how he refers to the employees primarily by their last names in an attempt to de-humanize those individuals. If they seem less human - less like your brother, sister, neighbor, or friend - it is a lot easier to hate them and vilify them as he has done in his book.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Very Informative!, 2005-12-26
Insult to Injury" focuses on a disabled chiropractor driven to the brink by an insurance company (UnumProvident) that unjustly denied her claim for benefits; the "good news" is that Bourhis and his associates were eventually able to right the wrong after a long legal battle made incredibly difficult by the company's calculated mendacity and the industry's success in prior lobbying of Congress and state legislatures.
When Dr. Hangarter first purchased her disability policy from Paul Revere Insurance, companies made their profits primarily on double-digit investment profits. However, the market changed and the companies found themselves under increasing pressure. In the meantime, Dr. Hangarter was injured providing treatment to a patient, and despite significant efforts at treatment, had to give up her practice and rely on disability payments from Paul Revere. Eventually Revere was sold and then became part of UnumProvident, and Dr. Hangarter's world was turned upside down.
New corporate leadership was brought in and began a deliberate policy of searching for ways to deny benefits - goals were set, customers were lied to regarding whether they could appeal and what was covered, expert testimony was slanted through incomplete information, documents destroyed, and the disabled often forced to go through lengthy, risky, and expensive litigation to collect. Possibly most frustrating of all (to me) was the fact that even when the company lost, it simply continued the same practices with other customers, and made it as difficult as possible for those victims to learn of the firm's already uncovered pattern of deceit.
Eventually because of all the resulting bad publicity UnumProvident's CEO was "forced out," given a $17 million payment, and all his cronies were left behind. Not much of a victory for truth and virtue. Meanwhile, President Bush touts his efforts and legislative victory to make righting such wrongs more difficult, and most state insurance commissioners and laws remain toothless. (California was a fortunate exception.)
"Insult to Injury" also goes a long way towards explaining why large punitive damages are sometimes necessary in the absence of innate corporate honesty and laws that mandate such.
And now we're reading about insurance companies and how they are managing to not pay Hurricane Katrina victims.
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