[Hidden-tech] Great Use of LLMs for Insurance Policy Scrutiny; Many Hopeful Implications

Thu Feb 6 16:24:12 UTC 2025

Hi All,

Quick update. Nice rep said home is covered despite the home office. What she didn't say is what, apparently, the contract states: the coverage is reduced in proportion to the percent of home used for business. I used an LLM to unpack the legalese, which is full of serpentine references to other clauses, and uses language likely to decieve one into believing that only home day care work impacts coverage. I had ChatGPT write a letter asking for written clarification--forget friendly talk. Meanwhile, Amica auto-sent texts thanking me for my approvals, and I did not approve it yet, which I explained via Amica's communication systems, so there's a clear record. They also charged my bank despite my turning on auto-pay only for the car insurance, and there too I posted a memo indicating I did not intend this payment, again to produce a clear paper trail. 

I'll let you know the final outcome of this saga. I imagine similar moves are happening at other insurance companies. 

If you like puzzles, below is some of the relevant serpentine legalese. 

LIMITED HOME DAY CARE COVERAGE
ADVISORY NOTICE TO POLICYHOLDERS

"Business", as defined in the policy, means:

A trade, profession or occupation engaged in on a full-time, part-time or occasional basis; or

Any other activity engaged in for money or other compensation, except the following:

One or more activities:

(1) Not described in b. through d. below; and

(2) For which no insured receives more than $10,000 in total compensation for the 12 months
before the beginning of the policy period;

Volunteer activities for which no money is received, other than payment for expenses incurred to
perform the activity;

Providing home day care services for which no compensation is received, other than the mutual
exchange of such services; or

The rendering of home day care services to a relative of an insured.

If you or any other insured regularly provides home day care services to a person or persons other than

you or any other insureds as their trade, profession or occupation, that service is a business.

If home day care service is not your or any other insured's given trade, profession or occupation but is an

activity:

That you or any other insured engages in for money or other compensation; and

>From which you or any other insured receives more than $10,000 in total/combined compensation
from it and any other activity for the 12 months before the beginning of the policy period;

the home day care service and other activity will be considered a business.

With respect to C. above, home day care service is only an example of an activity engaged in for money

that may be a business. Any single activity or combination of activities: 1. Described in A.2. above; and
 2. Engaged in for money by you or any other insured;
 may be considered a business if the $10,000 threshold is exceeded.

With respect to A. through D. above, coverage does not apply to or is limited with respect to home day
care service which is a business. For example, this policy:

Does not provide:

Section II coverages. This is because your business or the business of any other insured is

excluded under Section II - Exclusions;

Coverage, under Section I, for other structures from which any business is conducted; and

Limits Section I coverage, under Coverage C - Special Limits Of Liability, for business property;
 a. On the residence premises for the home day care business to $2,500 in Forms HO 00 03, HO 00 04 and HO 00 06 and to $5,000 in Form HO 00 05. This is because Coverage C - Special Limits Of
Liability imposes that limit on business property on the residence premises;

b. Away from the residence premises for the home day care business to $1,500 in Forms HO 00 03,
HO 00 04 and HO 00 06 and to $2,000 in Form HO 00 05. This is because Coverage - C - Special
Limits Of Liability imposes that limit on business property away from the residence premises. This
limit does not apply to antennas, tapes, wires, records, disks or other media that are:

(1) Used with electronic equipment that reproduces, receives or transmits audio, visual or data
signals; and

(2) In or upon a motor vehicle.

CAUTION: This is a summary of the limited coverage provided in your Homeowners Policy for Home Day Care services. No coverage is provided by this summary nor can it be construed to replace any provision of your policy. You should read your policy and review your Declarations Page for complete information on the coverage you are provided. If there is any conflict between the policy and this summary, THE PROVISIONS OF YOUR POLICY SHALL PREVAIL. PLEASE READ YOUR POLICY CAREFULLY.

Best Regards,

Rob Laporte

CEO  |  R&D Manager

DISC - Making Websites Make Money
mailto:Rob at 2disc.com, 413-584-6500

https://www.2disc.com

NOTE: Emails can be blocked by spam filters throughout the web. If you don’t get a reply within an expected span of time, please call.

---- On Tue, 04 Feb 2025 11:24:56 -0500 Rob Laporte via Hidden-discuss <hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net> wrote ---

Hi All,

Amica cleared up all but the crucial matter of home offices, for which they will get back to me in a day or two. Seconding Marcia, I have found Amica excellent, with my recent experience an exception. But Insurance companies are profit-driven, and obviously half of profit entails reducing payouts. Hence all the “”trust us” marketing. The last few years have been brutal on insurance companies.

I'll post the resolution about home offices when I get it.

Best Regards,

Rob Laporte

CEO  |  R&D Manager

DISC - Making Websites Make Money
mailto:Rob at 2disc.com, 413-584-6500

https://www.2disc.com

NOTE: Emails can be blocked by spam filters throughout the web. If you don’t get a reply within an expected span of time, please call.

---- On Sun, 02 Feb 2025 16:09:10 -0500 Alan Frank <mailto:alan at 8wheels.org> wrote ---

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Many of us are deducting home office costs on our Schedule C's.  It's probably worth considering how much you are saving by doing so compared with the risk and expense of noncoverage if you have a clause in your policy similar to Rob's.

--Alan

-------- Original Message --------

Subject:

[Hidden-tech] Great Use of LLMs for Insurance Policy Scrutiny; Many Hopeful Implications

Date:

2025-02-02 11:59

From:

Rob Laporte via Hidden-discuss <mailto:hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net>

To:

"hidden-discuss" <mailto:hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net>

Hi All,

The following intrigue-laced home insurance drama suggests great uses for LLMs, as well as entrepreneurial vistas.

Insurance Policy Skulduggery

Customized LLM tools like OpenAI GPTs, Google NoteBook LM, and Claude Projects enable brilliant unpacking of insurance policies and their tiny annual text changes that can undermine your coverage and increase risk. Given news about surprise clauses denying or reducing coverage for CA wildfire victims, and given that all, even non-CA, insurance corporations will have to increase rates (due in part to how re-insurance works to insure insurance companies), I thought it wise to use LLMs to scrutinize my formerly trustworthy Amica home and auto policies. 

I uploaded all past and current docs to three top LLMs, and discovered that little word changes meant that my home would not actually be covered. The details are many and important, but I'll mention just salient issues:

Language regarding home office use changed such that, say, a demolishing fire would not be covered, or at best would result in costly court battles to get the coverage one had in prior years. And guess what increased enormously since the pandemic? Home office coverage subdivides by important distinctions too involved to get into here.

A little new text about security devices rendered a future claim easily dismissed. The new policy itemizes various wireless security and fire subsystems, inputting some I did not have, which gave a $35 discount. In prior years, none of those devices were listed. ChatGPT explained that this is one of several tricks insurance companies use: If I had not found it, and my home burned down, the insurance company could claim the misrepresentation is a kind of fraud nullifying the contract. And one of the features Amica pre-filled for me was a "Wi-Fi connected fire alarm" I don't have.

Yes, you could fight that in court, but you'd likely have to settle for less than full coverage or else risk losing all at trial. 

Other little text changes since last year impacted full replacement costs, personal property coverage, town building ordinance costs during rebuild, and more. All of the changes either reduced coverage or injected ambiguity that corporate insurance lawyers love in denying claims. 

When I called the insurance company rep (and got permission to record as they too record), she claimed that they had not gotten my contact form submission of questions I sent via a linked Google doc. I had gotten a reply that a rep would get back to me--after the renewal and auto-pay date I disabled. While spoke with a rep, I arranged emailing it directly to her, and she claimed she did not get it--while Google showed 6 new live viewers streaming in (the doc was viewable only via that emailed link). After some talk, I pointed out that several people just started looking at the doc right now, prompting the live viewers to drop off one after another like cockroaches when the light goes on. She said she'd have to refer this matter to the local branch who would call me Monday. A long hold early in the conversation--after I explained my LLM use--suggests she had already looped in managers and probably legal, who were not only viewing the doc but also must have been listening live. It seems insurance companies are gearing up for a trend of people using LLMs to scrutinize policies. 

Lesson: LLMs empower us to vet contracts rapidly.

Similar LLM Uses and Related Career Opportunities

One can vet one's town property taxes. A neighbor into LLMs is currently making a little interactive app which (1) shows how much more or less one's home tax appraisal went up relative to one's street or any selected area, and (2) shows the maximum, minimum, and range of increases in a town. This enables detecting errors costing homeowners, and then getting LLM guidance on resolving the issue/s. 

One can quickly assess Terms of Service (ToS) and Privacy Policy changes. I signed up for a crypto IRA ~5 years ago. Subsequently, they had some shady changes in storage and banking custodians. A few months ago, I could not log in to view or act unless I agreed to a new ToS. An LLM highlighted new risks in the new ToS, which were buried in the many pages. Now, after each login that requires clicking agreement, I email and post to customer service that I do not concede to the new terms. (I'll be moving from them soon; and BTW, how screwy is it that a long-term financial contract can be changed at any time?).
Business Opportunity:  An enterprising soul could launch an LLM service that automatically scrutinizes one's ever changing ToS and Privacy Policies. I recall one scholar's research showing the typical person would need ~85 days per year to actually read all these shifting terms and policies. I bet people would pay $10+/mo to get alerts and summaries of risks for all the services they easily select for tracking.
Imagine the many ways people with LLM proficiency could launch service businesses that help people and businesses manage vital information.

Broader Implications for We The People

A bright side of LLMs, especially open-source ones that aren't censored, is that we can verify what officials, agencies, or governments said and when. News is for sale, but now, or very soon, truth is quickly available. There's a reason that the protagonist Winston in Orwell's 1984 works in the Ministry of Truth editing current and past news. And there's a reason the Internet Archive's WayBack Machine, which offers searchable, past date-stamped views of all important websites and pages, was attacked last year by lawfare and heavy DDoS attacks to take it down. 

LLMs could be potent truth machines supporting the informed consent that is the lifeblood of Democracy.

Oh yes, LLMs pose menace too, but let's not overlook their bright potentials.

Best Regards,

Rob Laporte

CEO  |  R&D Manager

DISC - Making Websites Make Money
mailto:Rob at 2disc.com, 413-584-6500
https://www.2disc.com

NOTE: Emails can be blocked by spam filters throughout the web. If you don't get a reply within an expected span of time, please call.

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