In View of Past Misdeeds, Unum is Playing it Smart
September 21st, 2009. By Hunter West
It’s time to give credit where credit is due: for a corporation oft-painted as a villain, Unum Provident is one smart company.
Unum Provident has been dragged through the mud in recent years over various charges and allegations that the company goes out of its way to deny legitimate disability claims. A claim, after all, is a drag on an insurer’s bottom line. The fewer claims an insurer is required to process, the less money it has to pay out while premium revenue remains a constant.
Thus, there are basically three ways to improve the performance of an insurance company: sell more policies; reduce the number of claims, or any combination of the two.
All you hear about are the horror stories from policyholders who have allegedly been cut down at the knees by a seemingly uncaring and unfeeling insurer. However, any corporation will tell you that the road to profitability is paved with cost reductions. There isn’t an insurer worth its’ salt that doesn’t cast a wary eye every time a claim is made against a short-term disability (STD), or long-term disability (LTD) policy. Unum Provident is no different.
If insurers have been cast as villains, so too are a handful of policyholders who really do try to take advantage and pull a fast one on their insurer by making a claim for disability when they are, indeed quite healthy.
Be that as it may, Unum Provident—easily a global leader in the provision of insurance products—is doing a lot of things right, in spite of what its critics are saying. You can’t have 11 profitable quarters in a row without some degree of savvy.
Here’s what Unum Provident is doing well…
1. Target the Small Guy to Sell Insurance
First, as Unum CEO Thomas Watjen recently revealed, the company is shifting its focus to selling disability insurance to employers with fewer than 2000 employees. Unum had identified a pattern that suggested employees who work for smaller firms tend to have fewer instances of employee absenteeism and thus, fewer claims for STD or LTD.
2. Help the Big Guys set up Return-to-Work Programs
Unum has also taken a leadership role in addressing the various shortcomings of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), a federal program that is complicated by a patchwork of 66 different laws at the state level that has only served to broaden the definition of protected events.
With employers focusing on lost (employee) time and the negative impact in terms of lost productivity and health care costs, Unum is right there in the fray, helping to develop strategy. The goal is to help employers better manage their workforce when it comes to sick days. In an interview with Bruce Shutan, a freelance writer based in Los Angeles, UnumProvident’s VP of return-to-work development Dr. Ken Mitchell said, “employers are asking for support in managing lost time that is generated by injury and illness, as well as lost time created through entitlement programs, when the workforce is changing and health care costs keep rising.”
According to Mitchell, UnumProvident’s customer experience shows employers that aggressively and efficiently tackle absence management and offer return-to-work programs often achieve a 20 percent reduction in lost work days in the first year when they move away from an unmanaged environment. Other gains may include a 10, to 15 percent reduction in lost-time costs as well as a decrease in long-term disability claims.
That last sentence may well suggest the real reason why Unum is at the table: the potential for a decrease in clams. But even if Unum is viewed as having its own agenda, the corporation’s involvement in helping employers better manage employee absenteeism is a legitimate way of serving its own interests at the same time.
3. Get Everybody on the Wellness Bandwagon
Unum also knows that a healthy employee takes fewer sick days and is less likely to trigger a disability claim. To this end Unum is setting an example with its own employees by way of providing an on-site fitness facility at its Chattanooga, Tennessee headquarters. There is a cost-employees pay $22 per month for the privilege. However the spacious and well-equipped 3000 square-foot facility is open 24 hours a day and provides an opportunity for wellness to employees who might otherwise not have the time to put in the grunt work at an off-site facility.
Progressive, forward-thinking corporations have for some time recognized the value of contributing towards the wellness of their employees, and Unum appears to be among that group.
Will Unum continue to cast a wary eye to any policyholder making a claim? Of course. Will some policyholders continue to feel mistreated, or frustration when a legitimate claim is denied? Probably. Will Unum ever manage to erase its prior reputation as an unscrupulous and uncaring insurer at the receiving end of many a bad-faith-insurance lawsuit? Maybe not.
But few can deny that in 2009, Unum is getting a lot of stuff right.
Loading ...
The way UNUM can begin to repair their battered public image is to SETTLE THE BAD FAITH CLAIMS OF THEIR DISABLED POLICYHOLDERS who were denied payment based on return to work clearances made by corrupted inhouse MDs. THESE ARE DISABLED CITIZENS WHO ARE AT AN ECONOMIC DISADVANTAGED BECAUSE OF CORPORATE FRAUD DEPRIVING THEM OF THEIR CONTRACTUAL BENEFITS. We are potentially talking 100s of thousands of claimants and their families suffering.
How in the world do these claimants and their families benefit from UNUM opening a few gyms and pestering ill employees to prematurely return to work ?!? Disabled Claimants WIN = 0, UNUM WIN = 1.
Lastly, I think its absolutely SHAMEFUL to suggest legitimate claims will continue to be DENIED and the public should not expect UNUM to fulfill their contractual obligations to their claimants. Shame on the author's disregard for the PUBLIC'S WELFARE. CONSIDER THE IMPACT UNUM HAS HAD ON SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY . . . WHERE ARE OUR GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS ?
[Reply]
admin Reply:
February 3rd, 2010 at 4:50 am
Hi Stop Unum, Thanks for your comments. The remark in this Unum post that refers to the potential for claims to still be denied is simply a matter-of-fact statement that no matter how much Unum tries to develop "wellness" and "return to work" programs, there will still be claims that are denied. No insurance system is foolproof–and we completely agree with you that Unum's contractual agreements with those it insures need to be honored and upheld.
[Reply]
admin Reply:
February 3rd, 2010 at 4:50 am
Hi Stop Unum, Thanks for your comments. The remark in this Unum post that refers to the potential for claims to still be denied is simply a matter-of-fact statement that no matter how much Unum tries to develop "wellness" and "return to work" programs, there will still be claims that are denied. No insurance system is foolproof–and we completely agree with you that Unum's contractual agreements with those it insures need to be honored and upheld.
[Reply]
Unum is evil, plain and simple. I have a rare genetic disorder, and I saw my geneticist today. When I told her my Unum claim had just been denied, she shook her head and said, "They're not paying ANYBODY." I have a legitimate claim, and I'm sure her other patients do, too. My bet is that those few who haven't had problems either a)have a terminal illness with an end in sight for Unum, b)are on short-term disability, or c)have just begun to receive long-term payments. Just wait–they essentially reward their employees for cutting off claims (Check out the Dateline and 60 Minutes reports), figuring that most sick people won't be strong enough for the protracted legal battle that is sure to follow–Unum is famous for bankrupting people by fighting to the bitter end. They threatened one of my doctor's patients by turning her in to our state's insurance commission for fraud (the investigator was very irritated when he met the woman, who is clearly disabled.) And don't even think of filing a "behavioral health" claim. Unum likes these because they only have to pay you for a few years–perhaps this is why they try to drive their claimants crazy. Even multi-million dollar verdicts and fines have not deterred this sociopathic company. Employers beware–if you are thinking of purchasing this insurance for your employees, look elsewhere. Many employees have had to reluctantly sue their employers to force the employer into suing Unum for not fulfilling their contracts. Like thousands of others, I have faithfully paid my premiums for years, only to be turned down in a time of great need. In addition to my physical ailments, I am developing an anxiety disorder from having to deal with these people. In fact, my elderly mother took over the process for me when I started to have a meltdown after the company repeatedly "lost" paperwork, claimed to have never received documents that I or my doctors had sent multiple times, or asked for additional paperwork from doctors who had already completed complicated forms multiple times–anything to delay, delay, delay. They even closed my claim after saying they hadn't received paperwork from my surgeon. Fortunately, the surgeon's office had kept a copy of the fax transmission report, confirming for me that this was not just mere incompetence but an outright fraudulent tactic. Unfortunately, they are wearing down my poor mother, too. Her exact words to my Unum "claim specialist": "I can see why my daughter can't deal with this. You're driving me crazy, and I'm not even sick!" Unbelievably, until my latest claim was denied and I heard an ad on TV from a lawyer representing victims of Unum's bad faith, it never occurred to me that so many other people could be having the exact same issues. But my experience is par for the course. Do your homework. Don't believe the ridiculous rhetoric on the Unum website about how they protect all these poor, pitiful souls during difficult times. They make sick people sicker. (Don't take my word for it–just Google "Unum lawsuit" or "Unum bad faith"–there are tens of thousands of hits.) Avoid this company at all costs. There is a reason Unum has been vilified in the press–they earned it!
[Reply]