Home:  Insurance:  Kickbacks and Deception in Insurance

Insurance Practices and Kickbacks

Insurance kickbacks are becoming a hot topic of discussion because insurance companies are coming under quite a bit of scrutiny lately. Insurance--whether it is medical, life, car, home, etc.--is a necessary part of life in order to deal with sudden emergencies and high cost of medical bills, but most people hate the system that frames and supports it and dislike the rules and regulations concerning compensation and payment. The situation becomes even more controversial when there are reports of fraud, deceptive practices, or unfair treatment. Insurance kickbacks are one of the occurrences commonly investigated.

Problems with Insurance Kickbacks

Many people do not even know about insurance kickbacks, understand what they are, or know when they occur. The primary reason for this is because there is much argument surrounding the practice of insurance kickbacks, and most insurance companies want to stay as far away from public scandal as they can. Everyone generally believes that insurance companies exist solely to make money and have little concern with the welfare of those they are insuring. This perceived attitude explains the high costs of most types of insurance and the difficulty involved in obtaining compensation or payment from insurance companies.

Insurance kickbacks are essentially like “rebates” that are given to other people or companies in return for doing some task or favor. Although this sounds harmless, the problem with insurance kickbacks is that they generally do not work to the benefit of the insured customers. In fact, they often negatively impact the customers in some way, by violating privacy, resulting in higher rates for customers who do not receive kickbacks, etc. People are often aware that insurance kickbacks are being given until they are involved in some kind of controversy relating to the practice, and the fact that they were not aware of or informed about what was going on makes them prone to anger. One example of insurance kickbacks involves giving people reduced rates for customers who give referrals to the insurance company. A case dealing with this particular kind of insurance kickback even went to court recently .

Specifically speaking, a kickback is any kind of compensation given to someone else, such as contractors, vendors, etc., with the intent to gain favorable treatment in the transaction or interaction at hand. When described this way, it is easy to see what kinds of problems can result from insurance kickbacks and how the practice fosters the growth of deception, fraud, unequal treatment, and unethical business practices. More information about kickbacks and insurance kickbacks, specifically, can be found on many different websites on the Internet. Only be being informed can you protect yourself from the negative implications of the kickback practice.

Insurance Articles

More Insurance Info