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[Cyan]

"From the start, this was a case was about one thing: getting medical bills paid by homeowners' insurance. Our client was never looking for money from her nephew or his family. It was about the insurance industry and being forced to sue to get medical bills paid," a statement from Connell's law firm Jainchill and Beckert read in part.

Huh it's almost like we should've listened to big-city lawya mre when he explained exactly this.

 

[teruterubozu]

Huh it's almost like we should've listened to big-city lawya mre when he explained exactly this.

I guess. But she lost in court. It didn't look good no matter what her legal council told her.

 

[EdwardTivrusky]

I guess. But she lost in court. It didn't look good no matter what her legal council told her.

I thought it was OK if she lost because it meant her insurance company would have to pay her medical fees? I'm so confused by this now.

 

[Yaboosh]

I thought it was OK if she lost because it meant her insurance company would have to pay her medical fees? I'm so confused by this now.

Is this true? Because it seems like it should be true but also seems easy to abuse.

 

[Tapiozona]

I'm confused. What insurance company doesn't pay for a broken wrist? Her own medical insurance should have paid for it no questions asked. This isn't experimental cancer surgery. It's a broken wrist.

 

[Skelter]

Haha you all were calling her names n shit.

This is gold.

How could we Europeans have known how amazingly and utterly broken the US insurance system is? Seriously, how does America even exist?

You should've assumed it was broken to begin with!

 

[MHWilliams]

I'm confused. What insurance company doesn't pay for a broken wrist? Her own medical insurance should have paid for it no questions asked. This isn't experimental cancer surgery. It's a broken wrist.

Insurance companies will do their best to make your medical costs someone else's problem. You have two examples in this very thread:

Well as a personal example that I'm going through right now, I got into an accident on my scooter and my medical insurance is giving me trouble paying the ambulance bill. They said that falls on the auto insurance company, to which I replied that scooters don't need insurance on them, and I'm still dealing with the back and forth trying to get these people to pay off something I'm quite frankly *paying* them to do. It's kind of absurd to what lengths the medical insurance companies will go to not pay for medical bills. But then again an ambulance ride costing $1000 to drive 5 miles is a bit absurd in its own right, so it's really an all around problem of high costs in the healthcare industry.

When my father got sick with pneumonia before he passed away a few years ago, his medical bills totaled 1.2 million dollars for a month's stay in the hospital. He had Medicare which covered 80% of the bill but if he hadn't had an expensive supplement we still would have been stuck with a $240,000 bill and even then they rejected the claim several times before finally paying. It's such a wonderful feeling to be mourning a loved one while having to argue with a friggin' claims adjuster. The for profit health system we have is so broken. But god forbid we have single payer, that would be Socialism.

 

[TheBryanJZX90]

I thought it was OK if she lost because it meant her insurance company would have to pay her medical fees? I'm so confused by this now.

Insurance companies will do their best to make your medical costs someone else's problem. You have two examples in this very thread:

If her real real target wasn't even the homeowner's insurance but actually her own crummy health insurance, and she knew she was going to lose the case against her nephew but thought she had to do it anyway to get her own health insurance to pay, she would have said that in all of these latest interviews, wouldn't she?

 

[Randolph Freelander]

#teamaunt

Spoiler

#rolltide

 

[Mr. Giggles]

That's not how much it costs to fix a hurt wrist.

Ok, cause unless they had to replace her bones with adamantium I was like "Whaaaaaat"

 

[TheBryanJZX90]

In this thread, people are so unwilling to face up to their mistakes that they are going to stick to their guns about this woman being horrible. They'll dismiss the insurance claim out of hand.

Face it, guys. The media fucked up like they often do and this story makes way more sense than what was originally reported.

Filing a bullshit claim against her nephew still has negative consequences for other people, especially if she had actually won her case somehow. Not $127,000 worth of consequences, but not $0.

 

[aliengmr]

If her real real target wasn't even the homeowner's insurance but actually her own crummy health insurance, and she knew she was going to lose the case against her nephew but thought she had to do it anyway to get her own health insurance to pay, she would have said that in all of these latest interviews, wouldn't she?

Exactly.

Personally I would have started with "My insurance tried to fuck me over".

I mean, insurance companies will certainly pull some shady stuff to get out of paying, there's really no disputing that.

Before I finish my humble pie, I kind of want to hear why her insurance did nothing.

 

[KHarvey16]

Filing a bullshit claim against her nephew still has negative consequences for other people, especially if she had actually won her case somehow. Not $127,000 worth of consequences, but not $0.

The nephew wouldn't have paid, the insurance would have.

 

[Zoe]

Insurance companies will do their best to make your medical costs someone else's problem. You have two examples in this very thread:

But then there are companies that will do exactly as expected:

Yeah, I'm still not sympathetic. I took a wrong step at my ex-GF's house and broke my fibula. I had surgery and have a plate in my ankle and some screws to this day, as well as a nice 5 inch scar. My health insurance covered the entire thing, including rehab etc. I didn't think to or need to sue her home insurance company. It's the extra stuff she's trying to cash in on. Of course, my injury occurred before Obamacare, so I don't know the current climate of health insurance in that case.

The only way it makes sense to me for it to purely be a health insurance issue is if she's trying to get out of her deductible and copays, which is still pretty scummy IMO.

 

[xenist]

Before I finish my humble pie, I kind of want to hear why her insurance did nothing.

Because a part of insurance companies profit comes from fucking people over.

 

[Ganhyun]

I'm surprised at how many people fell for the evil aunt storyline. Are people really that naive or ignorant about how things actually work in the world, or at least the U.S., and instead think that everything is straight out of a lifetime movie?

There have been multiple threads on this. In two of them those that pointed out the insurance angle were shouted down by people who had to feel morally superior. Bad info was being spread and legit info ignored. (It didn't help in the second thread when a mod spread bad info because he saw it in the first thread.)

 

[Pizoxuat]

If her real real target wasn't even the homeowner's insurance but actually her own crummy health insurance, and she knew she was going to lose the case against her nephew but thought she had to do it anyway to get her own health insurance to pay, she would have said that in all of these latest interviews, wouldn't she?

They would sue her for not putting forth the strongest case possible to keep them from paying. And I am not kidding, this is also a thing that actually happens.

 

[Prinz Eugn]

Filing a bullshit claim against her nephew still has negative consequences for other people, especially if she had actually won her case somehow. Not $127,000 worth of consequences, but not $0.

Man, just stop. You are swimming in pure, uncut Confirmation Bias.

If it was a remotely "scummy" thing to do, do you think the parents (who are far more familiar with the details than any of us, and presumably pay the homeowner's insurance in question) would have let the kid go on the fucking Today Show?

 

[Miles Quaritch]

Feel kind of bad for assuming the worst, but what the hell is going on in the US where aunts are forced to sue their nephews to get medical bills paid.

Sort your shit out, America. Jesus Christ.

 

[Syriel]

Feel kind of bad for assuming the worst, but what the hell is going on in the US where aunts are forced to sue their nephews to get medical bills paid.

Sort your shit out, America. Jesus Christ.

The same reason Barbara Bagley had to sue herself earlier this year. Her insurance carrier refused to pay out in a single vehicle accident in which her husband died, so acting as the representative of her husband's estate she filed suit against herself. Her interests as a driver are being defended by the insurance company.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/02/28/woman-sues-self-for-husbands-death/24174305/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...-herself-after-her-husband-dies-in-crash.html

 

[hultrain]

Let's not forget here that she lost the case. So, at least in the eyes of the jury, her claim had no merit. So the "big bad insurance company" was right, but the aunt went ahead with her bogus (at least in the eyes of the jury) claim, thereby wasting court time and clogging a no doubt already crowded docket. In fact, looks like she should have taken that $1 offer from the insurance company, and she would have come out aheaD

And also lets not forget, before we play the "big bad insurance company" card, it is likely that the insurance company ended up paying for the family's defense against this apparently bogus claim

 

[MHWilliams]

But then there are companies that will do exactly as expected:

And again, there are those that don't:

The same reason Barbara Bagley had to sue herself earlier this year. Her insurance carrier refused to pay out in a single vehicle accident in which her husband died, so acting as the representative of her husband's estate she filed suit against herself. Her interests as a driver are being defended by the insurance company.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/02/28/woman-sues-self-for-husbands-death/24174305/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...-herself-after-her-husband-dies-in-crash.html

This lady is under the "don't" column.

 

[Azih]

I can believe this. Insurance company says "How'd you break your wrist? DID YOU BREAK IT YOURSELF? WE'RE NOT PAYING YOU"

"No my nephew jumped on me in a party"

"LIKELY STORY. If it was his fault Our policy is that the GUILTY MUST PAY. NOT US"

"But..."

"UNLESS YOU TRY AND GET MONEY FROM THAT JERK KID WE'RE NOT GIVING YOU ANY MONEY. THAT'S WHAT THE CONTRACT YOU SIGNED SAYS"

Private insurance agreements are a hell of a thing.

 

[pigeon]

But then there are companies that will do exactly as expected:

I mean, "some companies do X" does not really logically imply "all companies do X."

 

[mre]

Let's not forget here that she lost the case. So, at least in the eyes of the jury, her claim had no merit. So the "big bad insurance company" was right, but the aunt went ahead with her bogus (at least in the eyes of the jury) claim, thereby wasting court time and clogging a no doubt already crowded docket. In fact, looks like she should have taken that $1 offer from the insurance company, and she would have come out aheaD

And also lets not forget, before we play the "big bad insurance company" card, it is likely that the insurance company ended up paying for the family's defense against this apparently bogus claim

The natural conclusion to your line of thinking here in describing her case as "bogus" and being without "merit" is that we should only allow those cases which a jury will ultimately find in favor of a plaintiff clutter up a court's docket. I suggest that you take your crystal ball and apply for a position in your local county clerk's office; no doubt the judges there will be very appreciative of your ability to kick those cases which a jury will find against.

On a serious note, there is an impartial someone who sat and reviewed the admissible evidence before allowing this to proceed to trial: the judge. There are many mechanisms in place already to protect defendants from completely meritless (or "bogus") suits, including motions to dismiss, motions for summary judgment, and motions for judgment as a matter of law / directed verdicts, all of which I'm sure the insurance company's attorneys unsuccessfully tried to use to their client's advantage. In order for the case to proceed to trial, the judge would have already ruled that there were sufficient facts in this case that, when applied to Connecticut law, a jury could have found in the aunt's favor.

 

[-bakalhau-]

Whoa, what a twist in the story! I can't really believe things work this way with insurance companies, but then again, it is the USA...

 

[blackflag]

Oh right, cos if the jury had awarded the 127 grand she wouldn't have accepted it? Get the fuck out of here with your lame excuses.

The insurance would have paid it not the kid.

 

[Javaman]

It's bullshit because homeowner's insurance shouldn't have to pay for such an injury. Her own medical insurance should. We've had TWO situations exactly like this with my kids. First one my oldest kid was at a birthday party and fell playing a three legged race with a bigger kid and broke his arm. Our medical insurance wanted us to give them the party host's information so they could go after their home owner's insurance. We played dumb and eventually they stopped bugging us for the information. There's NO WAY I was going to subject the host to that bullshit since they were nice enough to invite my son and it wasn't their fault. In the second case, my middle kid was screwing around at a church playground and fell or jumped off the side of a slide and landed on his head/neck. We took him for an emergency MRI and again the insurance company tried to get the info from the church. There's no way the church was liable. Nothing was wrong with the slide and it was totally my son's fault. We did the same thing and eventually they paid.

She has no reason to go after the kid. Regardless of if her insurance is paying or not it wasn't the kid's or homeowner's fault. If her medical coverage is refusing to cover it, than she's got bigger issues but that doesn't mean she should try to get the homeowner's insurance to cover it. The fact that she was wearing a wrist protector in the court room 4 YEARS LATER tells me that she's scum anyways and trying to puff up her case.

 

[Spinifex]

It's bullshit because homeowner's insurance shouldn't have to pay for such an injury. Her own medical insurance should. We've had TWO situations exactly like this with my kids. First one my oldest kid was at a birthday party and fell playing a three legged race with a bigger kid and broke his arm. Our medical insurance wanted us to give them the party host's information so they could go after their home owner's insurance. We played dumb and eventually they stopped bugging us for the information. There's NO WAY I was going to subject the host to that bullshit since they were nice enough to invite my son and it wasn't their fault. In the second case, my middle kid was screwing around at a church playground and fell or jumped off the side of a slide and landed on his head/neck. We took him for an emergency MRI and again the insurance company tried to get the info from the church. There's no way the church was liable. Nothing was wrong with the slide and it was totally my son's fault. We did the same thing and eventually they paid.

She has no reason to go after the kid. Regardless of if her insurance is paying or not it wasn't the kid's or homeowner's fault. If her medical coverage is refusing to cover it, than she's got bigger issues but that doesn't mean she should try to get the homeowner's insurance to cover it. The fact that she was wearing a wrist protector in the court room 4 YEARS LATER tells me that she's scum anyways and trying to puff up her case.

You even acknowledge that you've been through the same type of bullshit but still want to neg on the woman for doing what insurance companies forced her to do?

 

[KHarvey16]

It's bullshit because homeowner's insurance shouldn't have to pay for such an injury. Her own medical insurance should. We've had TWO situations exactly like this with my kids. First one my oldest kid was at a birthday party and fell playing a three legged race with a bigger kid and broke his arm. Our medical insurance wanted us to give them the party host's information so they could go after their home owner's insurance. We played dumb and eventually they stopped bugging us for the information. There's NO WAY I was going to subject the host to that bullshit since they were nice enough to invite my son and it wasn't their fault. In the second case, my middle kid was screwing around at a church playground and fell or jumped off the side of a slide and landed on his head/neck. We took him for an emergency MRI and again the insurance company tried to get the info from the church. There's no way the church was liable. Nothing was wrong with the slide and it was totally my son's fault. We did the same thing and eventually they paid.

She has no reason to go after the kid. Regardless of if her insurance is paying or not it wasn't the kid's or homeowner's fault. If her medical coverage is refusing to cover it, than she's got bigger issues but that doesn't mean she should try to get the homeowner's insurance to cover it. The fact that she was wearing a wrist protector in the court room 4 YEARS LATER tells me that she's scum anyways and trying to puff up her case.

I don't think the amounts in your examples compare to what we're talking about here.

If her insurance refused to pay out until she exhausted her options, what should she do?

 

[Javaman]

You even acknowledge that you've been through the same type of bullshit but still want to neg on the woman for doing what insurance companies forced her to do?

Not put herself or her nephew into the situation in the first place by taking responsibility for her injury. You have to be very careful what you say to insurance adjusters. She probably had the idea herself to push it onto the homeowner insurance and it totally backfired on her.

 

[KHarvey16]

Not put herself or her nephew into the situation in the first place by taking responsibility for her injury. You have to be very careful what you say to insurance adjusters. She probably had the idea herself to push it onto the homeowner insurance and it totally backfired on her.

How would that benefit her and why would she do that?

 

[xenist]

Holy shit, people aren't getting what happened even now. How do you guys manage not to kill yourselves by accident day after day?

 

[entremet]

Hopefully this story gets legislation attention, but knowing how complex federalism is, I don't anything will happen nationwide.

 

[TheBryanJZX90]

I don't think the amounts in your examples compare to what we're talking about here.

If her insurance refused to pay out until she exhausted her options, what should she do?

Sue her own damn insurer, the one she pays every month, the one she signed a contract with. If her health insurance really believed the kid was negligent they should have paid first and then sued the kid themselves to get their money back. That's how it's supposed to work anyway. I don't know what her health insurance policy says but I doubt it requires every single claimant to proceed to a trial on the merits before they get paid for any injury that occurs outside their own house.

 

[blackflag]

Holy shit, people aren't getting what happened even now. How do you guys manage not to kill yourselves by accident day after day?

I've had a Byzantium accident before. It was not pretty but I survived.

 

[KHarvey16]

Sue her own damn insurer, the one she pays every month, the one she signed a contract with. If her health insurance really believed the kid was negligent they should have paid first and then sued the kid themselves to get their money back. That's how it's supposed to work anyway. I don't know what her health insurance policy says but I doubt it requires every single claimant to proceed to a trial on the merits before they get paid for any injury that occurs outside their own house.

So in your opinion, her lawyer took this case and didn't suggest they sue the entity most likely to get both of them paid?

It's almost like how you think things should work isn't how they actually work.

 

[Ganhyun]

The fact that she was wearing a wrist protector in the court room 4 YEARS LATER tells me that she's scum anyways and trying to puff up her case.

Or, you know, those multiple surgeries she's had and ANOTHER TO COME to FIX WHATS STILL WRONG in her wrist that she can't even hold a plate in her hand without hurting could play a big factor in that.

 

[Ploid 3.0]

If I break anymore bones I guess I'd turn to the black market. Or get put down. I don't know how I took care of my bones in my leg as a kid.

Edit: ok she had multiple surgeries. Wrist and ankle are a mess to break. So many small bones.

 

[Kieli]

And also lets not forget, before we play the "big bad insurance company" card, it is likely that the insurance company ended up paying for the family's defense against this apparently bogus claim

You won't see me crying a tear for these poor health insurance companies.

These health insurance companies that hire full-time employees to scrounge through every last detail of a person's health and life to find an excuse not to reimburse the person for that which they were precisely paying the insurance to be reimbursed for.

For-profit health insurance as a necessity is disgusting. If it was optional on top of guaranteed medicare, then more power to the wealthy. But for the poor to be shafted by barely adequate plans that they can barely afford to pay?...

 

[TheBryanJZX90]

So in your opinion, her lawyer took this case and didn't suggest they sue the entity most likely to get both of them paid?

It's almost like how you think things should work isn't how they actually work.

Maybe she picked the wrong attorney. Negligence, what she sued for, is a tort and a completely different area of law from a contract claim, which she would be suing her own insurer under. Plenty of attorneys can do both but maybe she picked a plaintiff personal injury attorney that doesn't really do insurance coverage, so he saw this as a negligence case.

 

[TheBryanJZX90]

You won't see me crying a tear for these poor health insurance companies.

These health insurance companies that hire full-time employees to scrounge through every last detail of a person's health and life to find an excuse not to reimburse the person for that which they were precisely paying the insurance to be reimbursed for.

For-profit health insurance as a necessity is disgusting. If it was optional on top of guaranteed medicare, then more power to the wealthy. But for the poor to be shafted by barely adequate plans that they can barely afford to pay?...

The health insurance company didn't pay anything. She was looking to get money from the homeowner's insurance policy. You guys keep repeating "insurance company insurance company" without even realizing that two separate companies exist.

 

[teruterubozu]

Insurance, lawyers, and the media - the perfect trifecta for a classic American Horror Story.

 

[KHarvey16]

Maybe she picked the wrong attorney. Negligence, what she sued for, is a tort and a completely different area of law from a contract claim, which she would be suing her own insurer under. Plenty of attorneys can do both but maybe she picked a plaintiff personal injury attorney that doesn't really do insurance coverage, so he saw this as a negligence case.

Or maybe any of your many assumptions are wrong.

 

[FoxnHurley]

The whole thing smells fouls. Didn't the boy's mother die like a year ago? After that life insurance much, wench? 127 k to cover medical costs for an injured wrist just does not add up. What a nasty piece of work.

 

[Walpurgis]

It's so sad that people have to live like this.

 

[mre]

The whole thing smells fouls. Didn't the boy's mother die like a year ago? After that life insurance much, wench? 127 k to cover medical costs for an injured wrist just does not add up. What a nasty piece of work.

Fucking seriously? It's like they don't teach critical reading or critical thinking skills anymore.

 

[Ganhyun]

The whole thing smells fouls. Didn't the boy's mother die like a year ago? After that life insurance much, wench? 127 k to cover medical costs for an injured wrist just does not add up. What a nasty piece of work.

Did you read the other two threads? Granted, the first became a circle jerk of people spouting your uninformed opinion. The second had a few more people willing to accept facts, but not much.

But, just in case you didn't, the woman was never after her nephew's inheritance. She filed the suit before the mother died. Over a year before actually. She filed before the statute of limitations for the type of suit she was filing expired. That length is two years from the date. So, since the boy is twelve now, and was 8 when it happened, she filed it in 2013. Before the boy's mom died.

the 127K is to cover multiple surgeries and a future surgery planned.

 

[Joe Shlabotnik]

The whole thing smells fouls. Didn't the boy's mother die like a year ago? After that life insurance much, wench? 127 k to cover medical costs for an injured wrist just does not add up. What a nasty piece of work.

Lurkers pick the weirdest times and ways to chime in.

 

[OrlanisWorks]

I recant my previous statements on this subject due to the fact that I am completely lost and will continue to be lost.

A court to get another person's insurance to pay for their injuries requires a lawsuit. Insurance confuses me.