Insult to Injury: Insurance, Fraud, and the Big Business of Bad Faith

by Ray Bourhis

Joan Hangarter bought a disability policy in 1990 to protect her should she ever become seriously ill. She dutifully paid her annual premiums for nearly a decade. But when she became disabled, she and her children found themselves homeless and bankrupt when her insurer--UnumProvident--stopped paying her benefits. With the help of attorneys Ray Bourhis and Alice Wolfson, Hangarter won a landmark $7.7 million jury verdict against Unum. Hangarter's dramatic...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1576753492
• ISBN13: 9781576753491
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.5" x 9.8"

Customer Reviews

More than Unfortunate

Being in a moneymaking society, companies obviously thrive on making economic gains; however, at the risk of dehumanizing its customers? This book solidifies what we've all been thinking and understanding about said insurance companies and charges us to continue in making this a political issue.

Fight the Power

Insult to Injury is a passionate account of the insurance-related problems so many Americans must face on a daily basis. Ray Bourhis makes a compelling argument for reform and does so with gusto. This book is relevant, engaging, and well worth a read.

Insurance Truths

This book should be required reading for every policy holder and potential policy holder. Bourhis clearly defines the dark side of the insurance industry whose reach influences state, federal and local government. His writing style is clear and interesting as he details the facts supporting his thesis. It is a shame that President Bush tried to pin the rising cost of medical care on so-called "frivolous lawsuits", when in fact the insurance companies keep costs high by insisting on unreasonable profits even when company executives make poor business decisions. After reading this book most citizens should demand a rethinking of how insurance companies do business and are regulated.

A Chilling View From the Trenches

What happens when greed literally crowds out all human emotion and empathy? The process UnumProvident has set up to review claims is a chilling precursor to a world we may be entering if our elected officials and regulators don't step up to the plate. Unum explicitly sets up procedures to award employees for denying claims, and you don't have to take Mr. Bourhis' word for it, though this book is well-documented and supported. You can go read the cases that are beginning to come down. One can only hope that Mr. Bush's effect on the judiciary won't be enough to foreclose the last bastion that policyholders have. This book could be invaluable to those denied coverage or their attorneys.

One of the most disturbing exposes I have ever read

If, like the average American citizen probably does, you view the insurance industry as a benevolent protector that exists to serve its' customers, you are in for one rude awakening. Ray Bourhis, who served as plantiff's counsel in the case detailed in the book he later wrote, confronts the awesome duplicity of his adversary, one of the largest insurance underwriters in existence, a company that seemed determined not to honor its obligations at any cost. Bourhis describes the unending legal gamemanship, the obdurate refusal to settle, the psychological brutality of a company that appeared to prefer to destroy a policyholder than pay a claim on the agreed terms. The jury was not deceived and awarded Bouris' client a $7.7 million judgement a compensation for the egregious bad faith demonstrated by the insurer. This is an absolutely revolting story of an "ends justify any and all means" philosophy run amok at the senior management level and the terrible human cost exacted from the trusting and powerless who had believed their policies would protect them in times of dire need, when illness or injury rendered them unable to work. If you ever plan on purchasing a long term disabilty insurance policy from any insurer, you MUST read this book first; you have no idea what you may be setting yourself up for.