I complained yesterday that I submitted a short term disability claim to Aflac which they verified that they DID receive (complete) on July 1. My paperwork was all in order at that time but they did not process or pay on my claim! On July 14th I received a letter in the mail, dated July 9, stating that my claim for short term disability benefits was, in fact received on the 1st and was all in order. The letter stated that it would be processed "within 14 days" but the correspondance didn't say from which date! 14 days from the 1st or 14 days from the 9th?
Yesterday I was told that "all aflac claims received by the 10th of July, would be processed JULY 24th"! Now I think I know why. This morning, when checking the Aflac web site on the status of my claim, it reflects that my claim was received JULY 10th! Now they have artificially pushed the date forward when my claim was received and should have started processing!
There is also a NEW press release from Aflac, posted on their web site, that says Aflac's 2nd quarter earnings will be released "after the market closes on JULY 23rd"! I think that perhaps Aflac is not processing, and paying out on, it's current claims, because they don't want to pay out money from their holdings ledgers, prior to closing the books on their 2nd quarter earnings audit. If they withhold paying claims out until July 23rd, won't that make it LOOK as though the company is worth more than it actually is if all their pending claims were being paid out on time?
I just find it very fishy that the site is still advertising 4 day claims processing ("in MOST cases") and I have already been waiting 17 days for mine, only to discover that I have to wait ANOTHER WEEK. I have to wait until "after the market closes on July 23rd" to have my claim processed and paid BECAUSE of Aflac's scheduled press conference to release their 2nd quarter earnings statement! Well, excuse ME! It's not like my creditors are going to care about how much profit AFLAC is showing on their accounting ledgers!
I'm thinking that Aflacs 2nd quarter earning statement may be misleading to policy holders and company investors alike IF they do not disclose the dollar amount of their current, PENDING CLAIMS. You know, the claims they are artifically SITTING ON right now, not processing or paying out on. Since these claims are still PENDING and not PROCESSED, who knows what all those claims may actually be WORTH to Aflac's bottom line! What's the dollar amount of Aflac's financial liability on their pending claims?
At first I thought it was just me and my claim that were being stalled. But, Aflac's automated phone system has a message stating that "ALL claims received BY July 10th, will be processed on July 24th." Is Aflac intentionally trying to alter their earnings results or is this how audits work on all companies in the US? I was mislead thinking I'd have a benefit check coming 4 (or 10) days after submitting all my completed claim forms and being approved. My agent told me that I would get a check so fast "it will make your head spin".
I think that Aflac should be more honest with their customers, (and investors?) and just say, "Look, Valued Policy Holders, Aflac isn't paying out on any of your claims right now, advertised 4 day promise or not, because we want to pad up our financial accounts as much as we can BEFORE we have to release our 2nd quarter earnings/profit statement to the public." I wonder if they suspend their 4 day advertised claims processing EVERY time they are due to release quarterly earning results to the public? If so, maybe the advertised 4 day claims processing, that REALLY captures your attention, should have a disclaimer attached to it. A disclaimer like: "Most claims paid in 4 days EXCEPT during the month, or months, we have to calculate our quarterly earnings". Then again, do we really KNOW how long they have been holding back processing claims? Maybe they haven't processed or paid in over a month. How would one KNOW?
This morning, the Aflac web site now makes it look AS IF I subitted my claim on July 10th, and not July 1! I wonder, is this common company accounting practice? Is this how Health South, Enron, and Imac Bank audited their company's net worth?
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