Insurance is the New Grey: a Piece on Appreciation, Frustration, and Understanding

As we approach the new year, it’s only natural to spend some time reflecting on the past. A bit cliché, but natural nonetheless. With the more recent events surrounding the younger half of the Mario Bros, and the polarizing comments surrounding it, today’s reflection is around insurance.

While I've only spent 3 or so cumulative years selling policies, I’ve also spent a comparative amount of time conversing with folks in the industry from all levels: Executives, Underwriters, Producers, Engineers, and the unnamed movers and shakers. I’ve heard stories ranging from good, the bad, and the banal. Today, I’ll be sharing some of those - but not to make a point. Rather, just to share.

Love of Insurance

Insurance is an interesting industry. A lot of industries help other industries exist. Every company uses other companies’ products and services in a seemingly endless supply chain - but Insurance is the only one that touches ALL industries. Against the Gods is a good book that goes into this train of thought a bit more in depth - but basically the risks associated with many endeavors can be too great for many entrepreneurs to endure without it.

I used to work with a founder who loves the industry. To be fair, if you are going to be a founder of anything it probably requires that you love what you do. But this love was a bit different. In one of the first team meetings, she shared the story of Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company.

Fireman’s Fund was a bit unique in that its core mission was specifically communal good. 10% of its profits would directly be paid to the widows and orphans of fallen firefighters. Furthermore, they focused on high-networth clients, so she got to be exposed to some of the more exciting areas of the industry, rubbing elbows with the likes of Paul Walker and his insane car collection. Fireman’s Fund was literally the largest insurer and underwriter in the Hollywood film industry, making films possible since the silent film industry.

I’ve worked many gigs in my relatively short career, but I've yet to work one that still has me reminiscing of the good ol days 1 year later - let alone some 10 years later after its closure.

I used to converse pretty regularly with a cyber-freak. A guy who was pretty rough around the edges, but one who was well connected and fairly well respected. From him, I learned of some of the other hidden ways folks show love in this industry. One story in particular was of the Hawksoft CEO.

An avid woodworking hobbyist, this CEO would show his commitment to his new office employees by spending his personal time building them a desk. He would literally bring them in to take their measurements so as to optimize for ergonomics. Every desk would be uniquely built specifically for that employee. I can’t imagine that he would do such a thing if he didn’t truly believe that folks would stick around - and if you look at the tenure of their employees, it’s safe to say he was right.

Even this cyber-freak wasn’t immune to acts of kindness. I remember at one point I was working on a job board for an insurance professional community. A way to not only make advertising gigs easier - something that this industry does a fairly bad job at - but also to help get folks that were laid off into new roles within the industry and prevent talent-leak. I remember mentioning it to him - and he offered to sponsor it as an anonymous benefactor. He wanted to remain anonymous because he didn’t feel like he needed the publicity, nor that having his name attached would help the perception of the community this was meant to help. When I said he was rough around the edges, I mean rough.

“It’s only $200/mo” was what he said to me. Having spent so much time trying to find sponsors for pet projects, I've come to understand how rare it is to come across people like him - people that sponsor projects just to see them exist. We didn’t end up taking him up on his offer because other stakeholders of this project had other sponsors in mind, but I’ll always remember this small gesture.

The anniversary of his business partner’s death was fairly recent. I hope he’s found his peace.

Claims are often seen as a necessary evil in this industry, and just plain evil by the general public. It’s hard to find joy in telling people no, but it houses some of the smartest people in the industry and is often seen as a gateway into Underwriting - the part of the industry that non-producers actually enjoy. I unfortunately don't have much in the way of positive stories - the job is a grind and there isn’t any way to sugar coat it. But that doesn’t mean you can’t see the beauty in this work too.

I talk to a rescue turned claims adjuster pretty regularly. At one point, she worked on veterinary malpractice claims. From one perspective, it can be seen as heart wrenching - going from doing everything you can to save a life, to now advising on putting them down. But, from another view, it can be seen as taking the role of a “loving reaper”. Not every enterprise that insurance supports is strictly there for profit. Through her work today, she allows vets and rescues to continue to exist.

JennyJinya’s work is amazing and I highly suggest giving it a read and supporting - link above.

Hate of Insurance

I would be doing the title of this article a disservice if I didn’t talk about the darker side of this industry - especially because this industry has tons of “influencers” who shy away from these talking points, lest they risk losing the support of their benefactors. As an example, at one point a fairly well regarded recruiter told me that I wouldn’t find much success speaking my mind in such a bold manner, even if I was right. Well, he definitely wasn’t wrong in that assessment.

All major carriers today have some kind of community give-back initiative. Geico, Progressive, All-State, etc - they all donate millions to charities every year. Hell, Lemonade even has the exact same mission statement as Fireman’s Fund - stating that 10% of profits get donated to charities chosen by its community. But it’s all so corporate washed.?

Sometimes, in the marketing subreddit, folks ask why landing pages and marketing material tend to look so similar. To this, the answer is generally the same every time: professionals care about what converts, not originality. Just take a look at the websites of Progressive, Geico, and Allianz(the company that eventually acquired Fireman’s Fund) as examples. If it weren’t for their mascots - would you be able to tell them apart?

To be fair, corporate washing is inevitable. Once you get big enough, it becomes hard to be unique and agile while remaining consistent and competitive. I talked to someone that worked at Horace Mann - an insurance company that specializes in working with some of the hardest working professionals in our country: educators. I remember him telling me that it didn’t feel great that he was sold on the gig. Being promised the ability to leave his mark through large reforms, things unfortunately moved slower than he would have hoped. It takes a lot more energy to move a train than it does to pedal a bicycle after all.

I shared with him the cutscenes of human resources machine - a puzzle game that has you work through programming-like problems. It’d be funny if it wasn’t so relatable.

I think it’s time to talk about the recent events that have shaken up the corporate world.

I’ve seen people bashing Luigi - but for the wrong reasons. Yes murder is bad and I do hope justice is found, however I’ve seen folks defending UHC as if they were worth defending. At a whopping 32% denial rate, one has to wonder how they are able to defend that with a straight face when the industry average in the US among health insurers is 16% and Kaiser even manages to get down to 6% - in line with the denial rates of countries with tax funded universal health care. Is Kaiser THAT much better at setting rates and managing funds than everyone else that they can pay out that much more?

I’ve seen people state that bodyguards and extra security will need to be employed and that those costs will eventually be passed on to policyholders. Why should those costs be incurred by the policyholders and not just seen as “unnecessary measures” as an insurance professional might say. Plenty of gigs that pay a lot less require you to regularly put your life on the line and it’s seen as ok in those instances. Maybe it’s childish of me to think this way, but that attitude just screams Scar from the Lion King and not Mufasa. There is a clear disconnect between those at the top and the folks that aren’t. A lack of respect for the circle of business life.

Even before this whole fiasco, I’ve seen some truly abhorrent attitudes and takes. I remember long ago I was in a group call at my old insurance gig held by one of the many MGAs we were appointed with. In that call, it was suggested that we take the time to work with their underwriters because “our underwriters can get creative if it means pushing a policy dollar through”.

I remember Berkshire Hathaway releasing a new worker’s comp product that was meant to benefit remote workers. The policy was limited to the confines of the desk, excluded injuries caused by spouses and friends/family, and excluded injuries from repetitive activity. One has to wonder what it DID cover. While we in that insurance professional community all laughed at the absurdity of it - it hurts to know that it was probably packaged together and buried in with some actually effective policies by some unscrupulous producers.

While I see so many insurance professionals talk about how great the industry is, the social good it does, and how the general populace is misguided in their assessment of the work we do - I can’t say I agree that we deserve the best and brightest by merit of existing and doing the bare minimum of the service we promise to provide as many folks seem to propose. Our reputation is very much earned.

Indifference of Insurance

While not insurance specific - there was an episode of the Matlock reboot around healthcare that I found to be so much more than it probably meant to be.

Matty Matlock is an extremely talented lawyer who is infiltrating the law firm Jacobson-Moore in an effort to avenge the death of her daughter. She is put on a case where a cellist is suing for medical malpractice that prematurely ended her career and Matty is tasked with defending her client, the pharmaceutical company Wellbrexa. This contrasts her personal goal of avenging her daughter who had overdosed on opioids.

Early on, before the case went to trial, the team at Jacobson-Moore had offered a settlement of $20k, to which Matty spoke up and upped it to $50k without prior approval of the rest of the team. Something that she deemed fair. The cellist and her recently BAR-approved cousin decline and push for the case to go to trial.

At a 2nd attempt to prevent the case from possibly costing her client millions - Matty is given approval to offer $150k, where she - again without prior approval - offers the pair a much higher offer of $250k. Seemingly interested in taking the offer, the two blindside Matty and head over to social media to state their intent of going to trial as they now have evidence of lack of proper reporting during the clinical trial.

Left without any other options - Matty finds a legal loophole that prevents a common-law wife from being forced to testify against their husband, shutting down the cellist’s case and preventing the case from ever going to trial. At a holiday party where she is praised for her work - another lawyer that was on the case mentions that the cellist is now begging for the original $50k offer. Matty suggests giving it to them, just because it’d be the right thing to do and their client wouldn’t even feel it in their balance sheet. To that, the other lawyer retorts that maybe instead they should offer a Sephora gift card. The team laughs at the comment - much to Matty’s (silent)frustration.

As someone who loves what I do, I can relate to Matty. What I do can only be described as “driving stakeholder value” and sometimes those stakeholders aren’t the nicest people. I remember telling a former CEO of mine that the only reason I listen to him and do what he asks is because he pays his bills and that I wouldn’t tolerate his team messing with my comp if the order didn’t come from him directly. I ended up quitting when his sales director threatened my commission(but left the door open for future work if it ever came up). I can’t fault Matty for playing the game as I’m no better than her or the other lawyers for putting profits over loyalty and human compassion.

But was the cellist in the right? She was shown compassion and decided she wanted more. Did she have the right to more? She knew the risk going into it(there’s a good story somewhere about Drew Brees and clinical trial risk assessment). Should Wellbrexa be taken down for having been upfront about the procedure and the risk? The only person that was truly in the wrong was the doctor for hiding evidence that would have derailed the trials and possibly ended his career - but was his wife in the wrong for not wanting to go through the personal pain of testifying?

While not insurance related exactly - had this gone to trial, I’m positive Wellbrexa’s insurance company would have gotten involved at some point, if they weren't already aware and prepping to step in. And that’s kind of what happens in a lot of these claims - a lot of times both parties are equally shitty and we, as insurance professionals, are just here getting by. Psycho-Pass is a great anime if you want a deeper dive into this mentality of being indifferent for the greater good.

It’s nice to think things can be black and white - but the reality is, it’s the grey that gives life color.?