I got word late yesterday that my efforts on behalf of a small Illinois roofing company, before the Illinois Workers Compensation Appeal Board, were successful. The board assigned Code 5606, the Executive Supervisor's class, to a worker of his that had been classified as a roofer.
The insurer had been rather stubborn about this, it seemed to me, and I did not believe their justifications for this classification change held up to scrutiny. The board agreed, I guess.
The representatives sent by this particular insurer definitely gave off something of a negative vibe about my involvement in this dispute--in fact, they tried to get me knocked out of the box on a technicality. This was unsuccessful, much to my personal satisfaction. But more importantly, the board agreed with our arguments and assigned the less expensive classification to my client.
A certain level of personal antagonism has historically sometimes crept into my efforts on behalf of policyholders over the years, with some insurance company personnel really disliking the very existence of someone like me, and my company. Fortunately, this is far from universal. A lot of insurance company folks are pretty cooperative when we ask them to correct premium overcharges for our clients. Heck, I even get hired occasionally by insurance companies to serve as an expert witness in legal disputes.
But I don't expect to get hired anytime soon by the particular insurance company that was on the losing end of this latest Appeal Board ruling, judging by the frosty attitudes of the folks at that hearing. And that's fine, that just comes with the territory, I guess.
In my younger days (I've been doing this kind of work a long, long time) I could sometimes get a little frosty myself, I think, when I encountered resistance from insurance company audit managers over correcting some technical errors for my clients. I like to think that I've mellowed a bit since then.
But I still believe passionately in my work, don't get me wrong.
That's why a relatively small case like this one still means a lot to me. I mean, I make my living finding and fixing insurance company errors in underwriting and auditing, but it's never been just about the money. Far from it.
I've been incredibly fortunate to find a line of work that satisfies my need to make a difference in some way and also lets me pay my bills as a truly independent small business. In a world that is increasingly dominated by large firms buying up smaller ones, I get great satisfaction from doing things my own way, as captain of my own (admittedly tiny) ship. And somehow, I've managed to do that since 1987.
Even if occasionally I step on some toes within the insurance industry.
