Fascism - Alive and Well at a Wal=Mart Near You
Employers grab accident victims' cash
A collision with a tractor-trailer seven years ago left 52-year-old Deborah Shank permanently brain-damaged and in a wheelchair. Her husband, Jim, and three sons found a small source of solace: a $700,000 accident settlement from the trucking company involved.
After legal fees and other expenses, the remaining $417,000 was put in a special trust. It was to be used for Deborah Shank's care.
Instead, all of it is now slated to go to Deborah's former employer, Wal-Mart Stores.
Two years ago, the retail giant's health plan sued the Shanks for the $470,000 it had spent on her medical care. A federal judge ruled last year in Wal-Mart's favor, backed by an appeals-court decision in August. Now, Deborah's family has to rely on Medicaid and her Social Security payments to keep up her round-the-clock care.
I must admit I shop at Wal-Mart do to its location, selection and yes price, but damn, things like this make it harder to justify.
posted by Curlydog - Bill at
12/18/2007 10:58:00 PM
1 Comments:
Insurance companies are the absolute masters of risk/benefit analysis. They calculate every conceivable risk before they issue you an insurance policy, and they calculate your premiums based on the risk of having to pay out. And they *a;ways* set the premiums up so that they make a profit. The recent trend of insurance companies suing people to recover the monies they paid out on a claim is a case of them trying to have their cake (the premium payments) and eat it too (recoup their payout on the claim). I would love to see a countersuit at some point, asking for the refunding of all payments on the policy, plus interest, since if the insurance company is defaulting on their promise of monetary protection, why should they get paid twice?
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