Fallen soldiers allegedly prove profitable for insurance companies

Vatic Note:  Is this or is this not obscene?  Profiteering off of dead soldiers used to be a death penalty offense, did you know that???  Yup, until Greed became our new God, that is how we used to be about our children.   They could not be put in harms way for greed or profit or that company would be siezed and the officers would be tried and if convicted spend a good chuck of their lives in jail for doing this in any war.  It was worse if by that soldiers death a company profited could result in a life sentence.  My, how far down the road to FASCISM, we have definitely come under two fascist Presidents and both majorities each at different times with the exact same results, Fascism.  When the Repubs were a majority is when all the outsourcing occurred so that people without jobs would join the military and fight their filthy greed wars for oil and profits.  Then the dems got in and voila..... what do you know, the other side of the same damn coin.   Rahm's favorite sayng, is never let a tragedy go without taking the opportunity it presents... yup profit for the Insurance companies.  Just like our universal health care that no one intends to honor, pay for or use.  In fact, most of the tyrannical terms of that health bill are going to be ignored.  Watch and see.   

Fallen soldiers allegedly prove profitable for insurance companies

http://www.kansascity.com/2010/08/03/2126997/insurance-companies-profiting.html
McClatchy Washington Bureau
Posted on Wed, Aug. 04, 2010
Mike McGraw
The Kansas City Star
last updated: August 04, 2010 07:14:17 AM

The Missouri and Kansas insurance departments said Tuesday that they were checking for complaints over a practice in which life insurance companies were reportedly profiting from the deaths of U.S. soldiers.

First revealed last week by Bloomberg News, the practice involves life insurers that reportedly earn millions in additional profits by holding a portion of the benefits from such policies and paying them out over time.

"It may be legal, but it's shameful, absolutely shameful," said Joe Davis, a spokesman for the Kansas City-based Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Prudential and MetLife lead the way in making hundreds of millions of dollars in additional profits from thousands of policies, including those covering soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, Bloomberg said.

Instead of paying out all the benefits, the companies offer to "hold" the money, sometimes in noninsured accounts, for families of grieving service members, Bloomberg said.



Bloomberg said that on an average death benefit of $400,000, Prudential stood to earn 4.8 percent in annual interest while paying survivors just 1 percent.

Such "retained asset accounts" have been an option for survivors for about 20 years, insurance experts say, but in the case of U.S. soldiers, the practice has been allowed by the Department of Veterans Affairs, which oversees policies that are part of the ServiceMembers' Group Life Insurance program.

Prudential said last week that it was in talks with the VA to “address the concerns.” Company officials defended the program, saying it provided families with a financial adviser and prevented them from being vulnerable to “abusive sales tactics.”

But U.S. Sen. Kit Bond, a Missouri Republican, wants more.  (VN:  He must be up for reelection, if I remember correctly he sided with the SPLC in calling politically conservatives "Domestic Terrorists" etc, He needs to be long gone).

In a letter Friday to the VA, Bond said, “Like Secretary of Defense (Robert) Gates, who said … that he believed that the families of our fallen heroes got a check for the full amount of their benefit, I too was shocked by this practice. If accurate, this practice should be prohibited immediately.”

Bob Hanson, a Kansas Insurance Department spokesman, said Tuesday, “We’ve been looking at it and gathering information but we’ve had no complaints so far.”

Kansas has adopted model rules on such accounts, he said.

Kansans can report complaints to 1-800-432-2484 or file a complaint at http://www.ksinsurance.org/.
In Missouri, consumers can call 1-800-726-7390 or file a complaint on line at insurance. mo.gov .
To reach Mike McGraw, call 816-234-4423 or send e-mail to mcgraw@kcstar.com .
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