Mutual Of Omaha Expose – Heather Chalfant’s Story
Disability Insurance is the industry name for a plan that provides for periodic payments of benefits when a disabled insured person is unable to work.
Disability insurance is designed to replace anywhere from 45 to 65% of one’s gross income on a tax-free basis should illness keep you from earning an income in your occupation.
One of the insurance company which provides Disability Insurance is United of Omaha Life Insurance Company, –a subsidiary of Mutual of Omaha, and one of the largest disability insurers in the nation.
Today The Insider Exclusive “Goes Behind the Headlines” with David Lilienstein, Mgr Partner at DL Law Group in a new Insider Exclusive Investigative Network TV Special, “MUTUAL OF OMAHA EXPOSE– Heather Chalfant’s Story”,…..that Mutual of Omaha does not want anyone to know about. It’s one of the worst cases of insurance company abuses that we have ever seen!
In Fact, Heather Chalfant was not the only Mutual of Omaha client that became frustrated, angry, and fed up with Mutual of Omaha……As of March 2016, there are dozens and dozens more of policy holders as reported here At Consumer Affairs.
And Mutual of Omaha and another insurance company settled a Class Action lawsuit for $15 Million that alleged bad faith insurance practices over their long term care insurance policies.
Over 1,600 hundred Missourians had sued the insurance companies for raising their premiums on long term care insurance without notice.
Insurance companies owe a duty of good faith and fair dealing to their policyholders. However, they often breach that duty by denying claims….delaying claim payments…. and not being honest about their practices. Long term care insurers, in particular, have a reputation for treating policyholders unfairly.
When long term insurance policies were first written twenty or so years ago, insurers pushed these types of policies hard – telling policyholders that it would provide them with coverage if they ever needed to go into a nursing home, assisted living facility or needed in-home health care.
What insurers didn’t know at the time was how much health care costs would increase. Now, paying long term care claims has become a financial burden and many of those insurers do whatever they can to simply avoid paying those claims.
Mutual of Omaha was founded in 1909 as Mutual Benefit Health and Accident Association, in Omaha, Nebraska where it’s still headquartered. Starting in 1963, Mutual of Omaha became widely associated with the family feel good wildlife television program, Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom, which ran from 1963 to 1988.
Americans grew to know Marlin Perkins as the show’s host. He gave many Americans their first exposure to the conservation movement. Mutual of Omaha has multiple subsidiaries including: United of Omaha Life Insurance Company, and publicly displayed on their corporate website are their values, behaviors and beliefs that connect Mutual associates with a common vision.
We exist for our customers
We act with integrity
We are innovative
We are accountable for results
Together we achieve greatness
But the list of grievances against some long term care insurance providers, like Mutual of Omaha have resulted in Hundreds of policyholders who have successfully sued Mutual of Omaha and won. Lawsuit after lawsuit have uniformly alleged that Mutual of Omaha systematically denied certain types of long-term disability claims…. often without reviewing claimants’ medical proof.
Furthermore, given the recent controversy surrounding long term care insurance, some people may wonder if they will ever access the benefits they were promised when they signed up for their policy.
After all, long term care insurance providers have been accused in the past couple of years of using unfair tactics to deny claims. Such tactics allegedly include sending people the wrong paperwork, questioning their need for care and not updating policies to include changes in assisted living, meaning that newer types of assisted living homes are not covered in the policy.
Heather Chalfant was a beautiful 33 year old young lady. But on April 6, 2016, Heather Chalfant passed away after a five-year tortuous battle with her disability insurance company, Mutual of Omaha. Heather would have turned thirty-four years old in that same month, on April 21. Throughout her claim, Mutual refused to acknowledge Heather’s medical conditions as disabling. After five years, Heather died from those very conditions.
Not surprisingly, because of her unrelenting medical conditions and chronic pain, Heather was admitted to the emergency room seven times, and admitted to an inpatient nursing facility for two months. Early on in her claim, Heather notified Mutual she was extremely sick and was doing her best to cooperate with Mutual in applying for her disability benefits.
In fact, Heather warned Mutual that without adequate care ….which she could not afford without disability benefits… she could die from these conditions. In a distressed letter to Mutual, Heather wrote: “This is all extremely important… If I can’t pay for my meds and proper treatment I could literally die from dehydration, kidney failure . “
Five years later, Heather’s prediction came true…Heather died. By the time Mutual issued its final denial of Heather’s claim, her record totaled nearly 1,500 pages. Her claim file included medical records from numerous doctors supporting her total disability, a determination of total disability from the Social Security Administration, and a determination of severe disability from the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Despite the clear severity of Heather’s health problems, Mutual stripped her of the disability benefits she could have used to seek proper medical care. Mutual accused her of not seeking medical care for her conditions. Mutual used this unreasonable interpretation of Heather’s medical records to support its determination that Heather is not disabled.
Today The Insider Exclusive Investigative News team visits with David Lilienstein, Mgr Partner at DL Law Group in this new Insider Exclusive Investigative Network TV Special, “MUTUAL OF OMAHA EXPOSE– Heather Chalfant’s Story”, to discuss why Mutual of Omaha does not want anyone to know about this case.
Because it’s one of the worst cases of insurance company abuse that we have ever seen! Mutual’s legal response borders on the ridiculousness….They claimed that Heather’s entire case should be thrown out because she filed the lawsuit too late. Mutual also blamed Heather for not timely filing her LTD claim.
In a perfect world insurance companies would always do the right thing. Yet in reality the industry harbors…. a dirty little secret. “People are giving them money for something they will never receive”.
“What that really means is they’re selling uncollectible insurance.” Insurance Companies RULE our country. They control our banking…. Look at AIG! TOO BIG TO FAIL! They own WALL STREET . They catch a virus…. and Wall Street has Diarrhea for a week!
And when Interest rates fall and their investment earnings plummet…..then they run to Congress and SCREAM “TORT REFORM”. (Show Congress “Lawsuits are killing us…they scream…And those Greedy trial lawyers are to blame….. by filing frivolous lawsuits and convincing ignorant juries to dole out obscene verdicts…
BUT Ironically….. WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW…. Until now is… that Insurance companies regularly and deliberately invite lawsuits whenever the costs and hassles for a third party claimant look to exceed all potential for recovery.
Rather than just doing the right thing, Too many insurers prefer to play a game of litigation chicken….. A frivolous lawsuit strategy in reverse…. Don’t like it? …Sue me.
Throughout his career David Lilienstein has seen many innocent, hard-working people become “victimized” by their own Insurance Companies … All…in the name of GREED ! AND BECAUSE OF THAT…..He is driven not ONLY To get Justice for these victims of INJUSTICE….
BUT To make sure that ALL POLICYHOLDERS Get 100% what their Insurance Companies Promised! AND… WHAT THEY PAID FOR…. PLUS get it….WITHOUT HASSLE…. AND…….. ON TIME
David has earned the highest respect from citizens and lawyers alike…. as one of the finest Trial lawyers in San Francisco …. In California ….. and across the nation. And he has built a substantial reputation nationwide by consistently winning cases other law firms have turned down. His amazing courtroom skills and headline grabbing success rate continue to provide his clients with the results they need……And the results they deserve.
Please contact David Lilienstein @ http://www.dllawgroup.com/ 866-698-9634