Look Who’s Lurking Around Your Facebook Page: Your Insurance Company!
The detailed information many people reveal about themselves on popular social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace has caught the attention of the insurance companies. Insureds with disability claims should be alert to their insurance company potentially using this investigation/surveillance tool and should think twice before posting photos and information about their daily lives that could be misconstrued and used against them. Marilyn Lewis has written an interesting article on Insure.com about the future of insurance companies investigating their insureds online not only in order to determine rates for home, auto and life insurance, but to conduct surveillance on insureds with claims.
The Insurer Who Spied on Me – ABC News Investigation
Good Morning America recently reported on The Hartford going too far in their surveillance of some people with disability insurance claims, then unfairly cutting off benefits based on the video surveillance.
Read the full article here: The Insurer Who Spied On Me
Paper Trail Surveillance:
How Disability Insurance Companies Investigate You
Without Ever Leaving a Computer
We have written about video, photograph and social media surveillance in the past, but have yet to address another kind of “surveillance” that disability insurance companies use when a claim is filed: detailed record searches. When a policyholder files a claim for disability insurance benefits, one of the first things that claims personnel do is conduct a series of detailed record searches and record requests for all kinds of information on the claimant, including:
- Corporate and business filings;
- Civil court filings;
- Criminal background check;
- General internet search results;
- Workers compensation claims;
- Professional licenses;
- Real estate purchase and sale records;
- Medical records;
- Credit reports; and
- Pharmacy records.
The disability insurance claim process can be daunting, especially when insurers are delving into your personal and professional records. It is always best to have a disability insurance lawyer working to protect your privacy and your rights under the policy.
