How Paperwork Errors Cost Families Life-Insurance Payouts
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Here's your Money Briefing for Wednesday, May 24th. I'm J.R. Whelan for The Wall Street Journal.
What happened in the reporting about life-insurance payouts being denied?
Hundreds of families who paid premiums for years for life insurance benefits didn't receive payments when a death occurred because of paperwork errors by their employer and their insurance company.
The employer had been deducting the premium amounts from their paychecks and forwarding that amount to the insurance company, but Prudential had never verified that all these people had been approved for their life insurance. So when the death claims came in, Prudential looked in its files and said, we never approved these people for their life insurance, so we have to deny the claim.
We'll talk to Wall Street Journal reporter Leslie Sism about how this happened and the steps you can take to make sure it doesn't happen to you. After the break.
Some families with life insurance policies have been denied death benefits that they paid for because of paperwork errors made by their employers. Wall Street Journal reporter Leslie Sism joins us to explain how it happened. So Leslie, what type of life insurance policies are involved here?
What kinds of employer-provided group and supplemental life insurance are involved?
We're talking group life insurance that is provided by employers as a benefit. There's usually a basic amount of life insurance, a form of term life insurance. It's usually one or two times the employee's salary. then the employer makes available what's called supplemental life insurance, which is an amount of insurance above the basic amount. Typically, employees pay for some or all of this supplemental life insurance, and some of it may require going through a qualification process.
And so what happened that caused so many families to be denied coverage that they had paid for?
Some employers dropped the ball and did not provide the health form for their employees to fill out for this supplemental amount of coverage.
What did the Labor Department allege Prudential did wrong and how many claims were affected?
But the employers tally up how much premium they owe the insurance company from these workers. The employers went ahead and put down these workers as paying for their supplemental insurance fees. though the insurance companies were never provided the forms for these people. So the insurance companies had never approved it. However, there was no system of talking between these employers and the insurance companies as to which specific employees had filled out these forms. The insurance companies were receiving aggregated premium, you know, a lump sum of premium from all of the workers who were paying for their insurance.
How did employer paperwork breakdowns lead to denied death claims?
But there wasn't a system for them to distinguish which people had been properly approved for their insurance.
Now, in your reporting, you say that several insurance companies are under investigation. But last month, the Labor Department reached a settlement with Prudential Financial.
What remedies did Prudential agree to and will procedures change going forward?
What is Prudential accused of doing?
The Labor Department says it determined that Prudential had denied more than 200 death benefit claims in recent years, totaling as much as $7 million. In instances where people had been paying for their insurance, the employer had been deducting the premium amounts from their paychecks and forwarding that amount to the insurance company. But Prudential had never verified that all these people had been approved for their life insurance. So when the death claims came in, Prudential looked in its files and said, we never approved these people for their life insurance, for their supplemental life insurance.
What steps can employees take to avoid being denied benefits they paid for?
So we have to deny the claim. This required approval. an application and our approval and this is something we never gave so the fault lay with the employer for not having gotten the form to the employee and getting it filled out and submitted to the insurance company for its approval but the labor department said listen if you're an insurance company and you are collecting premium you got to have a better system in place for talking with these employers and figuring out exactly who has been approved and who's not. And you should not be accepting premium if you haven't approved these people.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:02–0:10
2
What happened in the reporting about life-insurance payouts being denied?
0:10–1:20
3
What kinds of employer-provided group and supplemental life insurance are involved?
1:20–2:13
4
What did the Labor Department allege Prudential did wrong and how many claims were affected?
2:13–3:00
5
How did employer paperwork breakdowns lead to denied death claims?
3:00–3:16
6
What remedies did Prudential agree to and will procedures change going forward?
3:16–4:00
7
What steps can employees take to avoid being denied benefits they paid for?
4:00–7:49
Speakers
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