We purchase different types of insurance schemes to protect our properties from uncertain damages. It is a legal contract between the insurance company and individuals. Here, insurance companies promise to bear the risk and provide the coverage of your properties based on one’s premium and policies.
Insurance is one of the most effective risk management tools. We take insurance from various companies to protect our financial losses and get peace of mind. But sometimes insurance companies can deny the claim. At that time, we felt very broken. It is also a troublesome situation for us.
What is insurance claims denial?
Sometimes for some reasons, insurance companies don’t accept your claim. That is called denial. For example, your car is damaged by accident, and you claim a file for coverage. But after some time you get a rejection letter that your insurance company will not pay the coverage or only pay a small amount which will not cover the full damage. You have to pay extra for yourself to repair your car. That means your insurance company denies your claim.
This denial may come from your own insurance company, or if the accident is done because of others’ fault, it may also come from their insurance.
Reasons for denial:
Insurance companies mention some reasons why they have rejected your claim. The common reasons are:
- When your claim amount is more than your coverage, the insurance company will not accept your claim.
- When you don’t provide sufficient documents and information that is required for your claim, the insurance company will reject your claim.
- Don’t take too much time. Try to claim right after the accident, or else you won’t get the coverage.
- If you break any laws during your claimable accident that time, you will not get the coverage.
- If your service does not cover your claim, then your claim will be rejected.
- If you provide duplicate or wrong documents, then the company will not offer coverage.
Always try to maintain all rules appropriately before filing any claim. Try to be updated about the terms and conditions. Otherwise, the insurance company may mislead you. Most of the time, the company rejects your claim because of a lack of documentation or knowledge. Always remember that insurance companies try to reject your claim so that they can prevent their costs.
Steps to solve the denial issue:
After being rejected, you may ask now what is the procedure to stop this rejection? The steps are given below:
Report the claim immediately:
File the claim immediately after any accident. Some insurance companies have an online system that helps to file the claim easily and timely. But if the company doesn’t have that option then you have to contact them directly or over phone calls.
You can also do a police report after an accident. A police report may help when you need to justify your claim. Taking pictures or videos of your damages as evidence is also helpful.
Get to the root of the problem:
Try to identify the problems of your denials. When you clearly know about the reasons for denial, you may solve this problem. For example, if you have problems with your documents, you may provide all documents to fix the issue. Then the insurance company cannot reject your claim. So, whenever you notify about the rejection, try to find the reasons to fix it as soon as possible to get your coverage.
Get a detailed estimate:
If your insurance company claims that your claim amount is higher than your coverage, this step will help a lot. If you have a proper estimation of your damages, you can solve this issue. Calculate the damage amounts before claiming helps more than after rejection’s calculation.
Create appeals team:
Maybe some denials can be solved by simple corrections. So it is a good step to create an appeal team with some experts. Those experts will help you to negotiate with the company. Try to hire who already has experience in this field so that you can get the best result. For example, you can hire a public adjuster to deal with your insurance company. He/she will try to find a way to appeal and get back the coverage from the insurance company.
Know your terms and conditions:
You have to be knowledgeable about your policy’s terms and conditions. Sometimes the reasons for rejection shown by the insurance company might be wrong. But if you don’t know that you cannot do anything. So try to learn as much information about your policy as you can. You can also take help from a personal adjuster to know more accurately about insurance laws.
Try to claim with your own company:
It’s a good idea to claim your coverage with your own company. Because you can deal with it better than others. For example, if the accident occurs by another driver, try to avoid his/her insurance company for coverage. It is better to take the cost from the person rather than the insurance company. When you file your claim with another company, it is a high chance to get rejection.
How to challenge claim denials?
If you are confident about your claim that your claim is right and the rejection is wrong, you can challenge the insurance company. The steps are:
- Hire a personal adjuster to deal with the insurance company.
- Do not sign any paper that may go against you. If the insurance company doesn’t have any written documents that go against you, you can challenge the company confidently and easily.
- If you have all the documents which are needed for your claim you can challenge the company easily.
- When you are sure about your coverage amount, you do not have to worry about getting the claim.
Lastly, you should know the reasons why the company rejected your claim in the case of denial. So that if you have proper documents, you can appeal again. Understanding the policy coverage and rights is mandatory for every insurance holder.