I’m so glad that Momentum changed their minds about paying out the Durban widow of Nathan Ganas.
I had a scathing article planned for what they originally did to Denise Ganas, but I was very happy to hit the delete button and instead credit them for having injected a bit of moral fibre into the insurance industry.
I have to just clarify that it is an industry that I have very little respect for.
In fact, I have in the past called it a legal pyramid scheme that preys on our primal fears, and then almost always lets us down.
Insurance companies, which include medical aid schemes, depend on us fearing accidents, ill health, crime and death.
We give them a huge portion of our income, most of which goes towards propping up their infrastructure, and in turn, when the time comes, they will look for clever ways to pay us out as little as possible. If anything!
This brings me to the story of Nathan Ganas, who was shot dead during a hijacking in his driveway last year.
Momentum refused to pay out on his life policy because he had failed to tell them about his high blood pressure.
Social media activists took to the digital streets and let Momentum have it, especially after the company also demanded a refund of the R50 000 it had paid out for Nathan’s funeral.
SMART: Momentum saw the light
It was all business and no humanity; or logic for that matter. It took them a few days, but they eventually got the point that seemed so obvious to everyone - Nathan’s high blood pressure had sweet bugger-all to do with the fact that he had died of gunshot wounds.
Eventually, Momentum even went a step further and decided to pay out the policies of all victims of violent crime, irrespective of their medical history. This change of heart led me to wonder how this was not already the case.
Considering the crime rate in our country, how have insurance companies not considered this before? But credit to Momentum for having turned what was negative press into a great positive.
Other insurance companies now have to follow suit. Or we have to all contact our brokers and check the fine print to make sure our families are looked after in the case of our demise in some way or form that wasn’t specified.
Because I can imagine a great insult to injury, having paid huge portions of your salary towards a policy all your life, only for your family to find that it was money down the drain.