Kindness on the Job

Storyteller has been talking about the importance of kindness.

It is not that rare for me to overhear people cursing insurance companies. Some people feel they are evil and are out to make obscene profits. Having worked in the industry for eight years, I can tell you that insurance companies strive to keep premiums down. The reason for this is competition. If you can offer better rates, you can attract more business. That said, I will admit their are–in my opinion–too many middle men (and women) in insurance. That surely drives costs up. One layer is made up of brokers, who work for the consumer and whose job it is to shop around and find the best deal for the consumer. A percentage of the profits go to those people. Then there are the agents or marketing people who work for the insurance companies and whose job it is to attract business to the company and build relationships with brokers. A certain percentage of profits go to them. If one day those middle people can be taken out of the picture and replaced with a more efficient interface, rates will be lower.

Another misconception is that claims adjudicators look for ways not to pay claims. I have not worked at a property & casualty insurance company, but I can say that my experience with one life / health / disability company and two travel insurance companies contradicts this suspicion. The adjudicators alongside of whom I’ve worked were compassionate people who looked for ways to pay claims unless they had good reason to suspect fraud.

I enjoy my new job. One of the most fulfilling aspects of it are the daily opportunities I have to interact with people who are going through or have just gone through a stressful situation. They are either visiting Canada from another country or live in Canada and visited another country. They have lost luggage or had a trip cancelled due to weather or a death in the family or illness. Or they got sick while abroad. Or they were in an accident.

I have a chance to make a small difference through compassion, patience and kindness. An elderly woman calls and apologizes for bothering me, but she needs help filling out the claim form. I assure her she can call me as many times as she needs to, that’s my job.

I’ve had several claims that on the surface appeared not to be payable. After I went over the wording of the policy very carefully, however, I judged them to have merit and was able to convince my supervisor of this.

Another satisfying aspect of the job is sending people their money as quickly as I can. Many times the foreign hospital won’t honour a brand of insurance they’ve never heard of, so the patient has to pay out of pocket then be reimbursed by us.  I try to remember that not everyone has enough money in the savings account to afford an emergency room visit.  Their credit card statement is due and they need that money back.

A friend once marvelled at my ability to work for an insurance company… to “sell out” in that way, to be part of the evil system.

I take comfort knowing I am making the system a little less evil in my own small way.