Ten Worst Insurance Companies in America (#6-10)

Continuing our list of the American Association for Justice’s list of the Ten Worst Insurance Companies in America, with companies six through ten.

6. WellPoint. WellPoint is one of the nation’s largest health insurance companies. According to the AAJ report, WellPoint has a history of decreasing their costs by cancelling the policies of pregnant women and chronically ill patients. 7. Farmers Insurance. This insurance company once created an employee incentive program called “Quest for Gold.” THe program offered things like gift certificates and pizza parties to adjusters and offices for meeting certain goals – such as making the lowest payments and having the highest rate of settling cases before a personal injury attorney became involved (because insurance companies know that people who hire an attorney recover, on average, about three times as much as those without one). 8. UnitedHealth. Another one of the larger health insurance companies in America, UnitedHealth made the list for having physician reimbursement rates that are so low that physicians often complain that patient health is compromised. UnitedHealth has also been known to use their relationship with AARP to raise premiums on products geared towards senior citizens. 9. Torchmark. According to former CEO Frank Samford, Torchmark was actually founded as a scam in 1900 designed to funnel money to its founders. Initially founded as a fraternal organization (in order to side-step Alabama’s insurance laws), the company was reorganized in 1929 and now utilizes tactics like race-based underwriting, refusing insurance to non-English speakers, and deliberately overcharging premiums. 10. Liberty Mutual. This is another big player in the auto insurance field who hired the firm of McKinsey & Co. to do consulting work and is following the deny, delay, defend advice. Insurance regualtors have also accused the company of systematically “bid-rigging.”