The more you learn, the more you wonder

We’ve all heard stories about insurance companies refusing to pay claims or trying to outwait you. So, it won’t be news to you that, even with claims made by or on behalf of civilian contractors to the military in Iraq and Afghanistan, insurance companies revert to form. There have been a fair number of claims from these contractors as 1,400 have died and 31,000 have been injured. But the insurance companies have initially rejected 44% of claims for serious physical injuries and more than half of all claims for psychological injuries. Perhaps, that’s why the business has been good for the companies; congressional investigators estimate that they have netted $600,000,000 on premiums of $1.5 billion. Not a bad profit margin.

But you may be glad to know that the company making the most money from this business is one in which you have an interest – AIG. And, as you might expect, a military audit found that AIG’s premiums were "unreasonably high and excessive." For example, AIG charged KBR $284 million in premiums for which they expect to pay $73 million in claims.

How low did this company sink?