A three column, one-third page photo of a mother holding the picture of her martyred soldier son is emblazoned with the caption: “In good faith? Fallen solders’ families denied cash payout as insurers profit.”
WATCHDOG: It is indeed the ‘dog days of August’ when press sensationalizes a simple matter of insurance companies offering to hold receipts due the beneficiaries until such time as they request a portion or all of the funds. The alleged culprits? No less than Prudential and MetLife insurance companies, who write the policies. Their only questionable practice: Paying too low a rate of interest (about ½ of one percent) until a request is made for the money. (How much interest is your bank paying on checking accounts?)
Whatever the motivations of the insurance companies, be they greed or concern for the bereaved, the Watchdog thinks they are performing a service by not sending a check for $400,000. It is no kindness to put so large a sum in the hands of a family at a time when they are least qualified to determine what to do with it.
Yet the funds are available to the families. All they need to do is send in a draft as provided to the insurance company.
Is this a story? Perhaps a small one without sensationalizing.
Unfortunately, during the summer doldrums when journalists are desperate to find something to write about and editors to publish something, this is what we often get.
Growl.
