The word has yet to trickle down from insurance company's chairman to his employees
I think you might have done a big disservice to readers of your piece on Mercury Insurance Chairman George Joseph. ("This executive takes service personally," Consumer Confidential, May 21.)
Readers might get the mistaken impression that they will be treated fairly and respectfully when they contact Mercury customer service reps, as opposed to the chairman's actions in responding personally to Ms. Brown.
We were insured for more than a decade with Mercury, but canceled our auto policies last year because we were unhappy with their claims policy and with the disrespectful behavior by some of their employees.
Rather than praise Mercury for what their chairman did in this isolated case, you should have investigated more thoroughly the actions of their other 5,000 employees, who apparently never got the message that Mercury values its customers.
Thomas P.
and Leslie C. Oatway
Valencia
The column is one of the most ridiculous I have ever read. Mercury has 1 million policyholders, and the chairman responds to eight or nine complaints a month? Impressive?
With over 5,000 agents, Mercury took 13 days for its adjuster to take my statement on a minor fender-bender, and my insurance company's adjuster took 30 minutes after the Mercury call to settle the claim.
Maybe I should have contacted Mr. Joseph instead.
Lynda Griffith
Los Angeles
Health coverage for adult children
There is another avenue for gaining health insurance for our kids with preexisting conditions that allows for a better level of coverage than seems to be reflected in your story. ("23 and uninsured," Your Money, May 18.)
When our son, Sam, lost his coverage under our policy after his 23rd birthday, we opted to continue his coverage under COBRA. We continued to pay for coverage under COBRA for the three years allowed and, during the last six months or so, began searching for a way to get him other coverage.
With much digging we found that the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 provides that if an insured party loses their insurance benefits and has expended all COBRA benefits, the insurance company must offer that person comparable insurance.
Blue Cross offers several HIPAA plans, and we chose one that had very similar benefits to those Sam had enjoyed under our policy. The deductible and co-pays were somewhat higher, but the monthly premiums were quite a bit less than we were paying under COBRA.
