Get insurance against the insurers
Dear Comrade Johann Le Roux, CEO of Momentum Life.
Congratulations on steadfastly refusing to fork out R2.4-million to the widow of that 42-year-old Durban man who died while trying to protect his wife in a hijacking. Why was she even trying to claim in the first place? If you were in the business of giving money willy-nilly to families of policy-holders who get themselves killed, you would call yourselves Momentum Death.
But be that as it may. Dying is bad for business, especially when you’re in the life insurance industry. You pay a high price every time a customer dies. It seems terribly unfair. People these days make no effort at all to stay alive.
It seems, though, that some also think it’s terribly unfair that you are refusing to pay out on the grounds that Nathan Ganas had not disclosed his raised blood sugar levels when he took out the policy four years ago. For all we know, people with too much sugar in their blood attract violent criminals wherever they go. Let’s not forget that bees are also attracted to sweet stuff like pollen and cocaine, and you know how dangerous they are. It could easily be the same with hijackers. Studies have yet to be done into the link between homicide and diabetes.
Living in Shallcross, Ganas should have appreciated there was a better than average chance of getting murdered and should therefore have informed Momentum about his medical condition. If he was aware of it. But even if he wasn’t, that’s no excuse for non-disclosure.
Denise Ganas says she didn’t know about her husband’s condition. I believe her. My ex-wife would often say things like, “There’s something wrong with you.” Or, if she was in one of her better moods, she might ask, “What the hell’s the matter with you?” I would look at my feet and make whimpering sounds until she went away. My point is that we don’t always know what is wrong with ourselves, our loved ones or even the mentally unwell people we keep voting for.
Everyone tries their luck when it comes to insurance claims and you need to remain vigilant. For instance, you don’t want to be paying millions to the widow of a man who, say, dies in a plane crash if the post mortem reveals he had a high blood alcohol content when the pilot mistook a mountain for a cloud. It is vital that you include “Drunk” as a pre-existing condition to avoid payouts in cases like these.
Times are tough. Momentum only earned R2.8-billion in the last year. You need to save every cent you can. And yet you have buckled under pressure and agreed to refund the premiums paid by the Ganas family. This is ridiculously generous and sets a dangerous precedent. Policyholders will be flinging themselves off buildings on the assumption that the family will get the premiums back. Actually, I suppose the grieving relatives would initially expect the policies to be paid out in full, but once you have pointed out that their beloved’s application forms are riddled with omissions, spelling errors, coffee stains and so on, they will be happy just to get their parking validated.
Make sure they provide an affidavit indicating that parking has indeed taken place.
Wipe your ass with insurance companies, but be careful of the sharp bits, co they won’t pay out, everyone should dump (on) Momentum Life, break this company, they don’t deserve to exist.
I have two small RA policies which should have been paid out 3 years ago by Momentum. They say that SARS won’t give them a tax directive because I am deemed to have left the country. I have been working as a missionary/teacher in SE Asia for the last 20 years. I still hold an RSA passport and ID # but this “hitch” is being blamed on SARS. Momentum has not performed well in their “customer care” as far as my case is concerned. My brother has a power of attorney to act on my behalf in this matter which neither Momentum nor SARS will accept. The POA was witnessed and signed in an embassy of the Republic of South Africa and yet deemed “unacceptable” by both. I now have to face the prospect of coming back at great expense to claim this money and rectify my tax status. Must I now travel back to fight with SARS to re-open my tax file and then wait another 3-6 months before Momentum pays out? The corporations and bloated state apparatus are making it harder for the average person. I feel for the family who is in this predicament. Surely if the man was murdered in a hail of bullets, pre-existing conditions should not apply? Life Insurance is nothing more than legalized robbery.
I can see Momentum’s point. If they knew he had high blood sugar at the time of his application then he would never have been given the policy in the first place. Ja Ja blah blah and other legalese bullshit. If he didn’t know he had it, how could he disclose it? And if they didn’t actually ask him to be tested for it (this is a standard blood test required by most life assurance companies) then they are entirely at fault. Even if they say that they issued the policy based on incomplete information, they did actually issue the policy. He was given life cover by them (even if it was a mistake) and sometimes in life you have to pay for your mistakes. Besides, the poor man did not die from diabetes! They need to pay out or they will get crucified by society. I would cancel my Momentum policy in solidarity (if I had one). I don’t know any good lawyers except for Harvey Spectre from Suits, and he is too busy spending all his money to take this particular case. But it is a case that he would probably win. In America. In a judicial system that actually functions… Sorry, now I have just made myself a bit more depressed about this.
Also, don’t lie to your insurer, or don’t we do honest contracts anymore?
Ben, what I am still wanting to understand is the process that took place here. Mr Ganas tragically died in a hail of bullets. At what point, and on what basis, and on whose authority/at whose request was it decided to investigate his unrelated and irrelevant medical condition? Is this standard practice? Was Momentum alerted to something? Or do they simply like to look for reasons to repudiate claims, regardless of the tragic and unrelated tragic circumstances? Why the lack of transparency from Momentum?
Keep going. Ben. The more you expose the Scum to ridicule the more the victims can resist.
I’m disgusted with Momentum