Complaint Review: CNA Insurance Compnay

My Parents took out policies In early 1995 for Long Term Care insurance with CNA  and have been paying premiums for 14 and a half years.

 Since March of 2004 my wife and I have been paying the premiums for my parents as a gift $2,594.08 a yearly, paid quarterly in the amount of $648.52 combined. Roughly they have spent almost $37,000 in total.  My parents would supply us with the latest quarterly statement of which I would give to my wife and she would pay the bill diligently as we have records to prove and you could require CNA to verify.  

In spring of this year a payment was missed for the April, May, June quarterly payment and my parents stated they did not receive a billing and we did not receive a notice as the third party notification on the policy where CNA is supposed to contact us if a payment is not made so the policy does not lapse. It was not missed based on the ability to pay premiums and was an oversight with no safety net of CNA sending us proper notification or the courtesy of a phone call.

As soon as it was discovered that the policy had lapsed I contacted CNA the first week in July and was told that my parents only option was to get reinstated. We feel CNA was just waiting for a reason to weasel out of their business relationship and keep the collected premiums to date. 

My wife and I moved to Lake Oswego, Oregon in late 2005: and we sent the change of the third party notification of our new address in along with all of our household bills at the time of our move. I personally remember mailing it in after my parents signed the form.

CNAs response was that they said they sent notification to our old address, therefore could not reach us (a very lax attempt on their part). 

 CNA also stated that my parents only option would have to re-apply and re-qualify for reinstatement in order to have a chance at having their coverage back in any form and that their policies could be rated up in cost or denied if my parents health has changed (of course it has changed, at least for my father that is why you buy Long Term Health care insurance to offset future health care cost risks..

In July my parents received a lapsed notice and I called CNA immediately to try to get their policies back in good standing both past quarter dues that where missed due to not receiving a bill and current for June July & August of this year. CNA was not willing to put my parents policies back in force and abruptly said that is not their policy and my parents would have to go through their rigorous testing requirements to gain back coverage.

The checks CNA has been receiving and cashing for the last five plus years reflects our business address in Lake Oswego where payments were made to CNA and still we received no response to us to alert that the premiums where past due and that the policy would lapse, home or work. 

Since then we exercised patience in light that CNA would do the right thing since my parents have had a business relationship with them for going on 15 years.  As I mentioned my parents have paid just shy of $37,000 in premiums to a company that they felt they could trust, just to be let down.

So we went down the path of CNAs rigorous requests to re-instate my parents as required by CAN and it has got us nowhere, looking back I wish I would have sent you a letter first, hired an attorney second.  

My parents have done all that was asked of them to date by CNA. They have filled out and up dated their information on an application with their current health changes and answered them with honesty and integrity.

 In September my mother was required to sit through a personal interview by a contracted nurse hired by CNA to do a face to face which is supposed to last 15-30 minutes for assuring there is no cognitive impairment with basic non intrusive questions about her mental state, which is sound.

 Instead the interview lasted about an hour and was very personal and she was asked to demonstrate her mobility by walking around the house and other functions (not what they said was going to happen this is what I would expect for a sobriety test after being pulled over by a police officer for drinking too much and then driving, not a professional interview at all more or less a fishing expedition).

 In our opinion this is more than anyone should have to endure to prove insurability and CNA has acted in a shameful manner as a company to a client that has been in good standing for so many years.

 To this date we are still are awaiting the outcome for my mothers coverage. and it is still in underwriting and no decision has been made.

On October the 30^th CNA mailed out a notice denying my father coverage (letter included for your review) stating due to health changes they would not reinstate him. This is and should be an embarrassment by a company we felt we could trust to do the right thing.

CNA could have taken the time to call the number on the check or mail to us the notice since they have been cashing our checks from us for the past three years but did not bother. They could have updated the information as us as third party but conveniently did not have the form with the new address, instead insist they only had the old address.. 

The bottom Line, CNA has not done enough in our opinion to keep my parents insured and treat them with the same professional courtesy that my parents have treated CNA as a loyal client for so many years.

 We ask you as our insurance commissioner and protector of our insurable rights to investigate this case and do everything in your power to have CNA comply and reinstate my parents coverage.