By David Connell

Although much of the fiction written about the insurance industry does not involve crime, or more specifically fraud, James M. Cain’s Double Indemnity, and the highly successful movie adaptation of the novella, has caused most people to equate insurance fiction with crime fiction. This is perhaps an unfair stereotype, but it is one that Richard Dooling perpetuates in his new novel, Bet Your Life. The novel is straight out of the crime genre and has an updated noir-ish quality of Cain’s work.

Bet Your Life involves three insurance investigators—Carver Hartnett, Miranda Pryor and Lenny Stillmach—of the fictitious Reliable Allied Trust insurance company, who spend their day investigating insurance claims the distinctly modern way: using Web-based databases, hyper-fast search engines and voice-recognition software to sniff out “fraudsters.” When Lenny turns up dead of an apparent drug overdose (yes, there is quite a bit of drug use in this novel), Carver and Miranda uncover several “viaticated” policies in his name and begin to investigate their own friend for insurance fraud.

BET YOUR LIFE

The dark side
The novel does a lot for the insurance industry and much of it is not good. For one, it presents the industry as inherently corrupt, with companies more concerned about boosting the bottom line and passing on fraud costs to legitimate customers than actually busting any fraudsters. Dooling, or at least his narrator, believes so strongly in this premise that he opens the novel with it:

“Fraud runs through the insurance business like waste through a treatment plant, and the vice presidents in marketing and sales and product development don’t care. If they pay out on too many rotten claims, they charge it back to their honest customers by raising premiums.”

Those in the insurance industry would strongly disagree with this assertion, but Dooling makes it a central theme in the novel. The investigators presented here seem to spend more time surfing the Web than they do investigating insurance fraud. Dooling also presents an old-school investigator named Norton who used to pound the pavement and work with the FBI busting cases, but he now sits behind a desk—disillusioned and bitter—longing for the good old days. Any potential client reading this novel would certainly think twice about investing his money with a company like Reliable Allied Trust.

“If [insurance companies] pay out on too many rotten claims, they charge it back to their honest customers by raising premiums.” —Bet Your Life

Viaticals
The emphasis on viaticals in Bet Your Life provides an interesting conundrum for the industry as well. The act of selling life insurance policies to third-party investors is at the center of the plot. Most of the action concerns Carver working to uncover whether Heartland Viaticals, which had purchased many of Lenny’s policies, was involved with his death, or whether it is a legitimate company.

Dooling presents the life settlement industry as innately corruptible, noting that it runs counter to the premise of “insurable interest”—that those who own insurance policies should have a vested interest in seeing the insured live. Although Carver and the old-school Norton note several times that “there is nothing illegal about viaticals per se,” they, and eventually the FBI, suggest repeatedly that any life settlement deal should be looked upon with suspicion.

But Dooling also gives the life settlement industry a voice. Toward the end of the novel the head of Heartland Viaticals is allowed to defend the industry, and at the same time point the finger at the insurance industry. “The main reason insurance companies hate us has nothing to do with fraud,” he says. “It’s because we keep policies in force that would otherwise lapse.” He also notes that AIDS patients can use the settlement to pay for treatment; and seniors—without dependents—can use the money to increase their quality of life. In short, he presents a compelling argument.

In the end, there are few heroes in this rather bleak tale of murder and greed. Unfortunately for us, this novel will leave potential clients with more questions about the motives of insurance companies and life settlement investors than it will answer—questions you’ll have to be prepared to deal with.

The future of an old stereotype
The insurance industry and cybergeek futurists. Other than through our esteemed publisher and executive editor, Kevin Sheridan, I thought the two would never connect. But Bruce Sterling, sci-fi writer and futurist, has proven me wrong in his new book, Tomorrow Now: Envisioning the Next Fifty Years.

TOMORROW NOW: ENVISIONING THE NEXT FIFTY YEARS

As his title suggests, Sterling sets out to predict what innovations, setbacks and changes will occur in the next 50 years and what will remain the same. To set this up, he notes that the future is composed of three elements: "the upside, the downside and muddling through." Each, he says, is represented by three distinct archetypes and—you guessed it—the archetype for "muddling through" is represented by "The Insurance Salesman."

Sterling treads deeply with this stereotype, saying that the insurance man "cannily predicts that the ol' routine will bumble along much as it always has," and "is the voice of common sense. His pragmatism deflates ... hype and bucks ... depression. ... He considers himself 'realistic.'"

Sterling's book is pretty obscure, so it may not have any effect on how people view us, but it's yet another reminder that some will always view insurance agents as dull, plaid-jacketed "salesmen."

you guessed it—the archetype for "muddling through" is represented by "The Insurance Salesman."

Insuring Generation X
A recent article from The Associated Press ("Media Watch" found it in The Washington Times) notes that there is a growing market of uninsured young professionals just waiting to be tapped. The problem, according to "Young and Uninsured" is that, with recent layoffs, those 18-35 too often roll the dice and do not pick up insurance to cover their lapsed company policies. For them, the gamble of not paying the high costs of COBRA when they don't have dependents it worth the money they save.

On a case-by-case basis, these Gen-Xers might not be lucrative, but young people without insurance has increased by 800,000 in the last year to more than 16 million, the article says—and that's quite a large market. Fortis Health, the largest supplier of short-term health insurance has made a sizeable business out of these folks by offering short-term policies in 46 states, some as low as $50 a month, which makes the "bet" that they won't need insurance seem much more foolish.

Links:

Bet Your Life

Tomorrow Now: Envisioning the Next Fifty Years

The Washington Times article "Young and Uninsured"

Am I missing something? Did you read an essential story on investor confidence? Is Law and Order sticking it to the insurance industry again? Have you read a book that deals with the financial services industry? Is this a poorly written column and a disgrace to the industry? Sound off on Media Watch by emailing your thoughts to David Connell.

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