As if you needed another reason to hate insurance companies:

It was a warm summer day, and Jim Ridler was riding his motorcycle on a southwestern Minnesota highway when an oncoming car swerved into his lane.

With broken bones in his neck, collarbone, pelvis, ribs and legs, Ridler spent seven months in the hospital and endured 18 surgeries.

The one comfort: His future would be secured with a $450,000 insurance settlement. But his health plan stepped in and took 90 percent of it to recoup what it paid to cover his medical bills.

State lawmakers are trying to make sure that doesn't happen to money they want to give to survivors of the Interstate 35W bridge collapse.
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Read all about it at

http://www.startribune.com/local/14624057.html

They are why people cannot get a raise.
They are why people here die of preventable disease.
Every thing that is worthwhile by law must be insured and as such is a tax. A tax without representation.

"...certain types of health plans are increasingly swooping in to take money their members have won in court or in other settlements -- whether it's for medical bills, pain and suffering, lost wages or other reasons, attorneys said.

"I don't think any of us are interested in setting up a fund to pay off insurance companies," said Rep. Ryan Winkler, DFL-Golden Valley, who has introduced a bill to create a 9/11-style compensation system.

About 40 percent of Minnesotans are covered under such plans, according to Minnesota Department of Health estimates. Such plans are typically self-insured and company sponsored, and therefore governed by federal rules.

Depending on how their contracts are written, those plans can take almost any money recovered by individuals until the plan is paid back."
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Something to think about, if your preferred candidates or representatives are taking money from these types of folks.

...this really is.

If you get into a car accident or are injured through no fault of your own--when
you go to the hospital--you are required to tell the doctors ON THE SPOT--if your
injuries are the result of an accident.

If you say "Yes", your name is red-flagged. The insurance companies hire people
to scan public records--searching for lawsuits filed with your name--as you try
to gain rightful compensation for your injuries.

So, you endure the pain and time of a lawsuit, go through all of that--and then
the insurance companies take it all. You are left with NOTHING for your pain
and suffering, lost wages, etc.

Thinking that you want to be smart, and not answer the questions about your
injuries being due to an accident? If you refuse to fill out the forms, your
insurance company REFUSES TO PAY YOUR CLAIM!

I am dealing with this right now. My daughter was injured in an accident at gymnastics.
She broke her arm. We are not suing. The gymnastics organization offered to pay
the medical bills. We took care of them because we did not feel it was their fault.
It was an accident! I got a form from the insurance company asking if this was
the result of an accident. I didn't fill it out because I didn't feel it was their
business. They're refusing to pay---because they want money if we sue.

These bloodsuckers!! We pay health-insurance premiums. If we sue and win money---it
is a CRIME that these health insurance companies can decide that they want the money.
We pay health-insurance premiums, so they will pay our medical bills! To take our
monthly premiums AND to also be compensated with money from a lawsuit, is just so
heinous.

I'd sure like to unearth the legislation that made this possible! Our family was not
hurt by this situation, but what about the people who sue for pain and suffering and
have that rightful money stripped from them--because of the bloodsucking insurance
companies?

This needs to be addressed!!