#Prudential Sucks Dick

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Clarissa

September 3, 2015

Prudential has denied my application for long-term disability insurance and is refusing to tell me the reason “because of security considerations.”

It was obvious from the start that the company was extremely reluctant to grant the coverage because, according to the terms of their agreement with our university, they are supposed to grant this particular coverage very cheaply.

Did I tell you how much I hate insurance companies? I only got into this whole long-term disability insurance hunt because N believes that it’s crucial to have it. But Prudential was resorting to such dirty tricks from the start that I knew it as useless.

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9 responses to “#Prudential Sucks Dick”

The Dark Avenger

September 3, 2015

Insurance companies are one of the few businesses that are essentially licensed to make a bunch money by the government, aside from casinos and churches. You have to be very careful dealing with them. One of the little tricks they do for long-term disability is that if the customer gets ruled disabled so they can get SSI, the payments from the company get lowered by that amount.

If they guaranteed 1000$ a month, and SSI is 300$/month, they lower their payment by 300$. It’s legal, and it sucks.

I would try your state insurance department or agency about this. As we say in America, the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

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1. Clarissa
  
  September 3, 2015
  “Insurance companies are one of the few businesses that are essentially licensed to make a bunch money by the government, aside from casinos and churches. You have to be very careful dealing with them. ”
  
  I know, I’d rather not deal with them at all. I’ve only been doing it because it matters so much to N.
  
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  1. The Dark Avenger
    
    September 3, 2015
    
    Then let him be the squeaky wheel, and he can tell them he’s taking care of it because you’ve got better things to do. I don’t know if you ever saw the movie, or read The Rainmaker by John Gresham, but it’s a pretty accurate portrayal of what one goes up against when dealing with them.
    
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    1. Clarissa
      
      September 3, 2015
      
      ” I don’t know if you ever saw the movie, or read The Rainmaker by John Gresham, but it’s a pretty accurate portrayal of what one goes up against when dealing with them.”
      
      Exactly.
      
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  2. Jim
    
    January 25, 2023
    
    My bro in law pretends to be a Financial Advisor for Prudential, but he’s really a Financial Predator stealing $500+/mo from me
    
    Please email me and give me advice on how to deal with this guy who is hiding my mom now
    
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Mulligan

September 3, 2015

Is it the same in other countries? I ask because I’ve only dealt with U.S. insurance companies.

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Vic Crain

September 3, 2015

No comment on Prudential. By state law, someone with an insurance license cannot criticize another carrier, and I have one.

LTD insurance for your age, assuming good health, is probably a waste of money. You’re most likely to encounter a disability of less than 18 months, which is short-term, not long. STD policies are relatively cheap. Does the University offer Aflac?

What may be in your future is the need for Long Term Care Insurance (LTC). This can be stand-alone, but it also can be a rider on a permanent life insurance policy (policy with cash value) that allows you to draw down benefits before you die. As a rider, it can be cost effective.

LTC matters because the situations that can call for it are relatively common — long term nursing home/rehab, degenerative illness, Alzheimer’s, etc. The woman in Colorado a few weeks back you became a quadruple amputee after a tick bite would have a greater need for LTC than for disability. (Ideally, one would have both. Most Americans have neither.)

The best LTC is in Europe. Brazil now has an excellent universal health system. You can get very good care here in the US if you have the money, but good nursing homes typically run between $10,000 and $14,000 per month. Even after retirement age, you have at least a year of that out-of-pocket.

I’m not sure why you were pursuing LTD. I had it and dropped it. Statistically, LTC is a more pressing issue, and the later you get it, the more expensive it is. Conversely, most states limit disability payments to a function of income. If you have a regular paycheck, fine. If, as I have, you become self-employed with highly variable income, that policy can become relatively worthless.

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1. Clarissa
  
  September 3, 2015
  
  Thank you, Vic, this helps A LOT. I was only trying to get LTD because my husband is strangely obsessed with it. I’m very healthy when I’m not pregnant, so I don’t know what long term disability we are fearing so much in my case.
  
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  1. Vic Crain
    
    September 4, 2015
    
    I handle Aflac as a side business. Frankly, it’s one of the few carriers I feel morally comfortable in supporting, for a variety of reasons. I’m had a number of major insurers (not including Aflac) as market research clients over the years and consider myself as both highly knowledgeable and cynical.
    
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