Over the last two decades tremendous changes have occurred in the insurance arena. Coverages that were standardized and made easier to understand have been changed for both the better and the worse as a result of common-law interpretations, extensions of coverage and limitations on coverage.
Coverages such as automobile liability have been radically re-defined as a result of the fact that insurance companies, notoriously known for their lack of willingness to pay valid claims, have grown increasingly resistant to meeting their obligations. Despite the fact that few large jury verdicts are ever made, the insurance industry has run advertising, public relations and lobbying campaigns that have convinced large members of the public and elected officials that every claimant is inherently suspect, is looking to make a killing and retire off the proceeds of an accident settlement.
The truth, of course, is quite different. Most claimants never get any settlement because the circumstances of the accident are not sufficiently clear to win in a court of law. Even those claimants that have been injured in situations of clear malfeasance, neglect of duty or tort rarely reach a settlement that adequately reimburses them for the financial losses. Even rarer are cases where the settlement punishes the transgressor in the context of a civil action. In fact, the very large awards touted by the insurance industry for people who spill boiling hot coffee at fast food restaurants or who suffer extensive physical and emotional injury as a result negligent behavior are rarely actually paid out. Appeals can, and do take years to be heard and will often result in dramatically reduced awards.
The insurance industry rarely takes the time to point out that the large settlements made by juries that felt compelled to punish the wrongdoer were later reversed on appeal or were paid to the victim's estate long after the victim had died. Even those coverages which were supposed to be paid directly to the policyowner, such as medical benefits, are often denied or limited despite the fact that the insured paid premiums that were supposed to guarantee them ready access to and reimbursement or payment for medical services.
In particular, Worker's Compensation, originally intended to protect the worker and their families from injury or death resulting from either "at-fault" or not "at-fault" on the job injuries has been sliced to ribbons by insurance company intransigence, bureaucratic snafus and legislative indifference to the rights of the victim.
One might ask, are insurance companies really having so much trouble paying their claimants? If so, why hasn't the public been warned that these companies may not be able to pay their bills in the future? The truth is that insurance, even in the most cataclysmic of years (hurricanes, tornadoes, forest fires etc.) manages to truck on, year after year, making more money for less productivity than any other industry invented by man.