Insurance Companies and your Data

By Queue Murphy
         The newest thing for insurance companies is collecting your data.  Based on what I just described above, do you really think insurance companies want to collect data from your vehicles, bills, homes, etc., for your own good?  While they promise benefits to you, they are actually gathering evidence against you so they do not have to pay your claims.  They have recently forced trucking companies to place cameras in the faces of their drivers 100% of the time while they drive – if the companies did not comply, they would be dropped.   The data they are collecting is being used against their drivers and auto owners who file claims against trucking companies.  
          Again, insurance companies are not your friend.  They want you to give them money, they want to keep your money so they can invest it and make more money - and they want to find evidence to help them do so.    Insurance companies also get your data to create a profile on you - they want to see how sensitive you are to price changes - they sneak up your rates by doing so.  Most companies will not admit they are doing that!  California told insurers to stop!  Farmers Insurance, Nationwide and Allstate do it!  Ohio and Maryland are banning this - New York may soon join!  Here is a great article by NPR on just that!  http://www.npr.org/2015/05/08/403598235/being-a-loyal-auto-insurance-customer-can-cost-you
     Other countries do not allow their personal data to be used like the United States does.  If a company gathers data from someone in Europe and they want to use it for something else, they need to get the permission in writing.  In the US, they do not have this restriction!  Your legislators have allowed insurance companies to get to this point. Insurance companies have a very powerful lobby – they give money to politicians to allow policies like this to be in place!   Insurance companies are businesses who want your money – nothing more!  Do not allow insurance companies to keep taking us down this path!  Demand that your legislators take away all the power the insurance companies have over us before we get to a point of no return!