Insurance Companies WOULD and DO do things like that???
Disgusting!
"It was the worst pairing since Drew Barrymore and directing."
-Greek (ABC FAM)
The insurance company paid some amount of money for the woman's surgeries and medical expenses. She then received MORE money to cover medical expenses. From the $500,000 she received, she can keep as much as she paid OUT OF HER OWN POCKET for medical expenses but the rest goes to the insurance company, not counting monies designated as for pain & suffering, lost wages, etc. If it doesn't, she essentially had 2 entities (insurance company and bus company) paying for the same medical services. The insurance company paid for some of her medical costs, and they should be reimbursed for what they paid out with money the from the bus company for the same expenses. From what I understand this is a standard part of all insurance policies. Read the fine print, people! :-)
Here's an analogy. Your mom buys you lunch that costs $20. Later in the day, your dad apologizes for forgetting to give you lunch money in the morning and gives you $20, not knowing that Mom bought you lunch. Mom and Dad both paid for the same lunch. You should give Mom the $20 for buying you lunch or give it back to Dad.
Wow your comparison of mom buying a kid lunch is so far fetched and a horrible way to look at it. A good way to look at it is you are a mother with a job and your husband has a job too, therefore, there are two incomes coming in. You are in a horrible accident that is not you're fault and you are probably not going to be able to work again (maybe one day but not anytime soon for the recovery). That alone puts that family in trouble since they rely on two incomes instead of one. On top of that you receive money for your injuries, yes your insurance company covered expenses since that is what they are supposed to do. THe family needed that money to substitute for the wife's lost income. A multi-millionaire insurance company is not the same as a dad buying their kid lunch. It is a pretty warped way to look at it. They are not looking to be filthy rich, but to raise their family and I think they do deserve a little extra for what they have to go through, after all it was the bus driver's fault.
shareDid you watch the episode? Money that the family got for pain & suffering, lost wages, etc. was NOT going to the insurance company. THAT money went to the family, which is why at the end the bus company changed how the money was awarded. It was $499,999 for loss of consortium, etc. and $1 for medical expenses. That's why the insurance company only got $1 (which still didn't make sense, since it was clear that the family had way more than $1 in out-of-pocket expenses so nothing should have gone to the insurance company - poor writing).
The analogy is spot on.
That was after the subregation claim, though. The money she was getting before was granted entirely to her for her injuries and expenses, so the insurance company was going to get all the money. They convinced the bus company to restructure it so that the husband got almost everything and the woman got one dollar. The fact that they got around it doesn't mean it wasn't a *beep* move in the first place.
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