Elder Law

Standing Up For Seniors Report: Scams

By Levin & Perconti

The American Association for Justice released a comprehensive new report entitled, ?Standing Up For Seniors: How the Civil Justice System Protects Elderly Americans.? We continue our look at the forms of senior abuse discussed in the report by considering the ways in which insurance predators scam vulnerable seniors.

Many elderly community members are faced with a complicated array of offers, demands, and questions that involve their financial affairs. In too many cases, insurance companies are behind the attacks, attempting to use the senior?s unfamiliarity to swindle them out of their savings.

For example, over the 1980s and 1990s agents from the Inter-state Service Insurance agency signed up many seniors for insurance policies at rates that they thought would stay the same price. However, using deceptive maneuvers, the company continually increased the rates. Some victims ultimately found that their rates had increased by a staggering 800% in a few years. Regulators could not help the victims, because the policies were technically legal. As a result, many seniors were forced to simply drop from the insurance roles?essentially allowing the company to keep thousands and thousands of dollars from the victims without ever having to pay even a dime for their policy.

Unfortunately this is simply one of many examples of vulnerable seniors being taken advantage of by insurance companies. National Heritage Life Insurance Company, Prudential, and United American Insurance have all been implicated in company-wide practices that take money from the elderly.

Our Chicago elder care attorneys at Levin & Perconti are proud to be a part of a profession that has continually worked to assist seniors taken advantage of in their scams. We work every day to ensure that all those who would use our elder citizens as a way to enrich themselves are held accountable. If you or someone you know may have fallen victim please contact a senior abuse lawyer today.

Please Click Here to view the full copy of the AAJ report.

Full post as published by Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Blog on October 18, 2010 (boomark / email).