Last week I wrote about Allstate suing a number of medical providers and personal injury attorneys nationwide over sham injury claims (see previous post "Insurance Companies Are Right On This Issue"). Well, it seems that Allstate (as well as State Farm) is in some hot water of its own for allegedly doing the same thing against its own insureds! The lawsuits were filed in New York by a physician (John McGee, M.D.) and allege that Allstate and State Farm set up fraudulent "independent medical exams" of its own insureds with select medical groups, which always concluded that the injured insureds were either not injured or would not need further treatment. By doing so, these insurance companies could then allegedly deny paying for their own insureds' past medical bills and future medical benefits.
Of course, news like this does not usually make the newspaper or get media attention (compare that to a few goofball lawsuits like the guy who, on his own, sued a dry cleaner for $54 million for a lost pair of pants). Insurance companies and business groups love to parade such lawsuits around as the poster child for lawsuit abuse. Apparently it's OK, though, for insurance companies to abuse their own insureds. Good hands? More like boxing gloves...........
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