Someone handling a life insurance claim that was denied offered sage advice for those who might find themselves in the same predicament someday, warning, “This is why you should not lie on your life insurance application.”
The tale of woe comes from creator Opinionated Tanya (@opinionatedtanya), who provided perspective in what’s turned out to be an extremely viral video. Since going up last week, it’s drawn more than 2.1 million views and 116,800 likes as of Monday.
In the clip, she talks about a man calling about his wife, who recently died from kidney failure—who didn’t disclose a preexisting condition thought to have contributed to her illness.
She notes, after offering the man who called her condolences, that, “He begins to speak and he’s very upset because he just doesn’t understand why his life insurance claim for his wife was denied. Yes, life insurance claims can be denied. So I start to bring up the policy, then I start to bring up the claim, and I see the rejection reason as to why the claim was rejected. Now the claim was rejected not because of what he did, but it’s because of what his wife did, or better yet didn’t do.”
“It appears that she failed to disclose all of her health information on her application,” she says. He was confused by this, and she says, “I told him that her passing was an underlying condition due to complications from her diabetes. She passed because she had kidney failure. And ultimately, she passed away from that.”
Yet, the life insurance company didn’t know about the diabetes, she says, so rather than awarding the man the life insurance benefits he was expecting, the company refunded him her premiums, which came to a little more than $3,000.
She adds, “If your policy is under $200,000, they’re not going to ask you for any proof of medical information or any proof from a doctor that says otherwise. But what they will do is, after you’ve passed, they will go back and ask doctors for medical records to confirm that you do not have any pre-existing medical conditions prior to that policy being active. And in this case, that’s what happened and her claim was denied. And he was left holding the bag.”
A Bankrate article covering life insurance claim denials noted, “Receiving a life insurance claim denial letter may be stressful for beneficiaries who are financially dependent on life insurance benefits. Depending on the reason for the claim denial, you may have some options to contest the denial. In cases with obvious mishandling of claims, your state’s department of insurance and your attorney may offer helpful resources to argue why the claim should be paid out.”
@opinionatedtanya #howlifeinsuranceworks #lifeinsurancepolicy #lifeinsuranceclaimdenied ♬ original sound – Opinionated|Tanya🖱️
Commenters reacted with a mix of emotions.
“This is so sad,” one observed. “Because if she HAD disclosed it, she’d have been denied anyway. My brother can’t find life insurance because of this exact reason.”
Another said, “Insurance companies always find loopholes so they don’t have to pay but they will take your money every month.”
Someone else similarly opined, “Insurance will find any reason to not pay people. This is sad.”
Finally, one commenter advised, “Life insurance is a bet against the insurance. You bet you will die, insurance bets you won’t. Don’t disclose; you are cheating the odds in your favor.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to the creator via TikTok comment.
