Tuesday, October 24, 2006
You're not helping
Is it me or is there just a lot of sensationalism in the media nowdays? Take for example this little blurb from the Associated Press. Emphasis is mine.
NEW ORLEANS -- The Associated Press has found a gaping disparity between white and black Hurricane Katrina victims over insurance payouts.
A review of 3,000 complaints filed to state regulators over homeowner insurance payouts shows whites are much more successful in the process and much more aggressive.
Whites were found three times more likely to appeal their settlements than lower-income blacks, who didn't know or doubted the government would help.
But once appeals were filed and pursued, whites and minorities both received an average of about $40,000 more than they'd first been offered.
A woman living in the devastated Lower Ninth Ward said she got fed up with numerous calls to her insurer and accepted the $34,000 for damages that totaled more than $120,000. She said she didn't know she could appeal and doubted it would be worthwhile.
When I first saw this story, I got the feeling that the evil insurance companies were out to cheat minorities out of their insurance money. Just check out the opening line. It insinuates that blacks are being shortchanged by their insurance companies to the benefit of whites.
The next paragraph puts things into a bit more perpspective, yet in a way that still hints at a perceived bias against blacks. While it tells us that whites were more likely to receive a larger settlement, it fails to make the connection that it's for the use of the appeals process by whites as compared to blacks. It's not until the end of the story that we're told that of those whites and blacks who actually used the appeal process (comparing apples to apples) their settlements were quite similar.
NEW ORLEANS -- The Associated Press has found a gaping disparity between white and black Hurricane Katrina victims over insurance payouts.
A review of 3,000 complaints filed to state regulators over homeowner insurance payouts shows whites are much more successful in the process and much more aggressive.
Whites were found three times more likely to appeal their settlements than lower-income blacks, who didn't know or doubted the government would help.
But once appeals were filed and pursued, whites and minorities both received an average of about $40,000 more than they'd first been offered.
A woman living in the devastated Lower Ninth Ward said she got fed up with numerous calls to her insurer and accepted the $34,000 for damages that totaled more than $120,000. She said she didn't know she could appeal and doubted it would be worthwhile.
When I first saw this story, I got the feeling that the evil insurance companies were out to cheat minorities out of their insurance money. Just check out the opening line. It insinuates that blacks are being shortchanged by their insurance companies to the benefit of whites.
The next paragraph puts things into a bit more perpspective, yet in a way that still hints at a perceived bias against blacks. While it tells us that whites were more likely to receive a larger settlement, it fails to make the connection that it's for the use of the appeals process by whites as compared to blacks. It's not until the end of the story that we're told that of those whites and blacks who actually used the appeal process (comparing apples to apples) their settlements were quite similar.
