Making a profit on soldiers' death benefits

[IDemo]

By Tony Capaccio and Patrick O'Connor
updated 2 hours 4 minutes ago

Why are large life insurance companies profiting from billions of dollars they hold on behalf of the families of fallen military service members?

Bloomberg Markets magazine senior writer David Evans posed that question in an article in its September issue. The article, which took a close look at practices at Prudential Financial, has sparked sharp criticism from Cabinet members, reform proposals from U.S. lawmakers, and a fraud investigation by the New York Attorney General.

The U.S. Veterans Affairs Dept. and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners say they are reviewing military life insurance arrangements.

"It's disgraceful on the part of insurance companies," Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.), a onetime prisoner-of-war in Vietnam, said in an interview on Bloomberg Television. "We'll obviously have to be looking into it."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38629691/ns/business-bloomberg_businessweek/

[demigoddess]

1. despicable, but I doubt if it is very new, I'm sure Scrooge

did much the same thing. On another subject, I think the banks should be ashamed also of their 'reverse mortgages' scheme. Looking into it, it is not much different from a home equity loan, and interest is charged and the people carry the responsibility of selling the house which costs money and eats into what is left, if any, after the loan is paid off. Banks and insurance companies are pretty much vampires on our society.