State Farm Fined $4 Million by Montana Insurance Commissioner related to Private Passenger Auto Claims.

[blmartinez]

State Farm Fined $4 Million by Montana Insurance Commissioner

Read More: State Farm Fined $4 Million by Montana Insurance Commissioner | https://newstalkkgvo.com/state-farm-fined-montana/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral

 

[tiddy123]

@blmartinez Montana claims handling is one of the biggest shitstorms in the country and I would not wish that jurisdiction on anyone.

 

[nancywilson74]

@tiddy123 Care to elaborate? I feel like I never hear anything about MT (it’s also never been my territory).

 

[tiddy123]

@nancywilson74 In particular, Montana is the only state in the country that believes that a BI settlement is handling claims in bad faith. You know the whole part where the value of a claim has to be determined before payment is made? That is bad faith in Montana. So a liability carrier is required to pay BI bills as they're received.

 

[nancywilson74]

@tiddy123 Thanks for the info - good to know. That’s interesting.

 

[tiddy123]

@nancywilson74 The upvotes tell me that hasn't changed... because we all know that if you're wrong on the internet people will tell you.

 

[caferobusta]

@tiddy123 I really wish they would close the loopholes so I wouldn't have to write so many.

 

[stryker4]

@tiddy123 I actually agree that BI bills should be paid as they’re received.

Car repair gets paid as it goes, why should the body be different.

 

[hfbroady]

@stryker4 Umm because you need to be able to confirm the treatment you’ve received is due to the accident you were in??

 

[stryker4]

@hfbroady Aaaa yes, I forgot about the people who love to take time off work, to get X rays and MRIs for fun, it’s just sooo addicting.

 

[msturtle]

@stryker4 It's not addicting, but if your billboard attorney says you are going to get paid for doing it, why not?

 

[hfbroady]

@stryker4 Yes it’s called inflating the bills to try and enhance the appearance of the injury thus expecting a bigger payout.

You’ve obviously never worked in injury claims if these concepts are foreign to you lol

 

[stryker4]

@hfbroady I’m familiar with the concept of exaggeration, don’t be so snippy.

However, most emergency room visits and treatments aren’t inflated nor are they in the pockets of lawyers, so where’s your snippy comeback for why at the bare minimum emergency room visit and treatments shouldn’t be paid out first? Are broken bones, fractures, concussions, severe cuts, all inflated to you?

 

[hfbroady]

@stryker4 ER bills absolutely inflate the charges. They will charge for a level 4 visit when it was actually a 2. Again. Can tell ya never worked in injury claim handling lol

If you suffer an injury as severe as you stated, I’ll pay you what’s fair and reasonable which is more than what you would get for a sore neck under the majority of circumstances. And yes, many medical providers will inflate any chance they get.

 

[juliand]

@hfbroady Yep it's fraud 101- trauma activation. I don't know why people just come in here to shit on adjusters like that's going to make this any easier.

This person also has an attorney - further delaying payment of the claim

 

[thejacobhouse]

@stryker4 They are absolutely also inflated.

 

[sevenout03]

@stryker4 You haven't worked claims, read the medical notes from the providers, and talked to the injured parties then.

The care people get from automobile strains and sprains is just ridiculous compared to what they seek for similar strains and sprains they might experience as part of daily life.

But the best example I can pull from though is looking at how people in various states healed from similar accidents. I was talking to these people and paying the bills as they came in and reading the records.

It was absolutely remarkable to me that people in West Virginia which generally had $2,000 or maybe $5,000 of coverage would be fully pain free and released from their chiro after 90 days or so of treatment whereas people in say Delaware that had $15,000 in coverage would need 4-6 months of the same treatment to get better getting the same chiropractic care.

 

[fadacopa]

@sevenout03 Seeing how an itty bitty ac separation caused simply by rolling over in bed turned into a 9 month nightmare of healing, I don't see why sprains and strains should be dismissed so easily.

 

[sevenout03]

@fadacopa I don't deny that stuff like what happened to you happens because I know it does. I have seen it in auto accidents.

But what we see with auto accidents is how a much larger number than expected of these minor injuries "need" substantially more treatment than what most people who would say hurt their shoulder rolling over in the bed actually need.

I have trouble sleeping and need some sleep aids so I have hurt myself sleeping a decent number of times from myself just not moving from an uncomfortable position. Its been bad enough that I have needed to see a doctor about it twice, once for my neck and once for my jaw. I have had strains and sprains from other things that I do. I really hurt my ankle on vacation last year walking on a very pebbly beach for a couple of hours. I have hurt myself doing yardwork. I had coworkers and friends do similar things and have similar complaints. I can think of times when people I knew had stories like you do.

But what you see in auto injury claims with soft tissue injuries is that treatment in the aggregate makes little sense. And things make even less sense in the aggregate when you are talking to the injured parties and reading their medical records. Every chiropractor in Florida needs 90 days to treat their patients and get them back to where they were before the accident. They never treat for 30 days and their patients just about never ever need more than 90 days of treatment, but they get magically healed within the timeframe of their $10,000.00 benefits. But my patients in West Virginia magically do get better in 30 days or so because they rarely buy policies with more than $2,000.00 of coverage. And this isn't people or the records saying they would get more treatment if they had the money there because they aren't where they were from the accident. They literally get better faster and with less treatment in states where less money is around to pay for treatment.

 

[jerseyguy]

@sevenout03 And in New York, with a strong verbal threshold for BI claims and $50k no-fault coverage minimum, literally every chiro report I read said the claimant had a 10-15% permanent partial disability of the cervical spine and would require monthly chiro treatment for the rest of their life. With an occasional 15-20% and thoracic spine thrown in for variety sake.