NOTICE OF PRIVACY POLICY Germania Farm Mutual Insurance Association and its subsidiaries as well as our business partner, Home State County Mutual Insurance Association, (referred to as “us”) value you as our customer and respect your right to privacy. We collect nonpublic personal financial information fromyou and consumer reporting agencies and about your transactions with nonaffiliated third parties and us. We do this to process, administer, and maintain the products and services you purchase from us. We have in place policies and procedures that limit who may access or use your nonpublic personal financial information that comply with state and federal regulations and our own high standards regarding privacy and confidentiality. We only disclose your nonpublic personal financial information to affiliates or non-affiliates as permitted by law. A full privacy policy notice is available at www. GermaniaInsurance.com/privacy-security-legal or by calling us directly at 800-392-2202 and requesting one. If you are interested in seeking a position on Germania’s Board of Directors, please see the nomination process and additional governance information contained on our Corporate Governance site at GermaniaInsurance.com. Germania seeks candidates for Board of Directors Elections to the Germania Board of Directors for Districts 12, 14, 18 and 22 will be held at their respective 2018 April Local Chapter meetings. Germania directors serve for a term of three years and may seek re-election. An individual interested in serving on the board will be evaluated by our Board’s Nominating Committee for his/her governing experiences and skills for effective board leadership.
Germania’s new investigation unit aims to cut cost of fraud
Denise Baldwin is one of Germania’s special fraud investigators working hard to prevent and detect insurance fraud.
Germania has set its sights on insurance scammers with the initiation this year of a Special Investigation Unit, trained to root out and prevent costly fraudulent claims. Insurance fraud is common, according to the FBI, and costly to carriers and policyholders alike. “Insurance fraud is a growing and costly problem for insurance companies,” said Germania’s President and CEO Paul Ehlert. “We owe it to our policyholders to make fraud prevention and detection a priority.” The FBI reports there are an estimated $40 billion a year in non-health insurance- related fraud. With 7,000 companies that collect more than $1 trillion in premiums every year, there are ample opportunities for fraud. The new claims fraud Special Investigation Unit will go after “soft fraud” as well as “hard fraud,” said Denise Baldwin, one of two specialist unit managers. Soft fraud includes “enhanced claims,” in which the insured or claimant reports damages in excess of what occurred. Hard fraud includes deliberate destruction of property,” Baldwin said. “It happens. We know it. And it’s happening all over Texas,” she said. The role of SIU is to create reliable documentation of fraud that can be used in prosecution of fraud cases. But it’s important that an insurance company focuses first on providing fast excellent claims service, Baldwin said. “We’re in the business of paying claims. That’s what we do. We’re not a law enforcement agency,” she said. “Our mandate is to pay what we owe for the benefit of our policyholders.” Having a good Special Investigations Unit is a deterrent to fraud, she said.
4 | Germania Today
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