scorecardresearchMovies on insurance: You can watch these popular flicks to learn key money

Movies on insurance: You can watch these popular flicks to learn key money lessons

Updated: 09 May 2023, 05:03 PM IST
TL;DR.

The show ‘Mad Dog’ teaches viewers to pay attention to the fine print when it comes to insurance policies, and to be honest when signing up for health insurance, in order to ensure they are adequately covered.

‘Mad Dog’ on Netflix

‘Mad Dog’ on Netflix

Just when you think they’ve made all the movies about money, you drown under a brilliant Hallyu wave. And discover a 2016 show called ‘Mad Dog’ on Netflix. No, there’s no Gong Yu, Hyun Bin or Son Ye-Jin, but the show will keep you enthralled. And yes, you will learn to watch out for the underlying money lessons.

Fine print is meant to be read. Read!

According to statistics, people in South Korea have more than one life insurance policy. But as we watch the show we suddenly realise that we in India follow similar patterns. So right away we need to see: what exactly are you getting in return for your insurance?

An architect who uses shoddy construction and the building collapses, does he get all the insurance money while the tenants are shortchanged, simply because his insurance investigators prove that a filled dance class in the building produced resonance, which caused the building to collapse. Just like a suspension bridge breaks when your rhythm matches the rhythm it is swaying with?

If the tenants cannot be covered by their insurance because the builder proved that the fault wasn’t because of shoddy construction, where will the poor tenants go? Make sure your insurance covers everything. Because when it comes for payment, you should not feel short changed because someone had a bizarre but logical reason to not pay you.

Health insurance against acts of God?

I cannot reiterate enough that God is in the details. The show ‘Mad Dog’ shows how a health provider in cahoots with scammy patients help them cheat insurance companies. Alas, when you really fall ill, and you want to know how covered you are, it becomes difficult to get insurance to pay for you.

When you sign up for health insurance, be honest with the insurance provider and in return, understand exactly what kind of treatments are covered in the policy you are about to buy.

Mad Dog has sixteen episodes in season one! Watch and learn!

Movies about people scamming insurance companies

Cinema has always had fun with insurance and all that policies entail. There’s a delightful film called ‘The Producers’, which is not only a film you can stream, but also a marvellous Broadway show. Written and directed by Mel Brooks, the story takes you behind the scenes of a Broadway show (a theatre spectacle).

The film ‘The Producers’ is about an ageing producer who lives by scamming wealthy old women. To hide his tax fraud (a discrepancy of about $2000), he puts money into a play that is supposed to be a box office debacle. But the fun happens when the show turns out to be a huge success and well. You have to watch the film to realise that you can scam the tax man only until you are found out.

If you cannot locate this film on the streaming platforms, then watch ‘The Comeback Trail’. It’s a star studded film with a similar theme, but it’s about a rather devilish and delightful insurance scam where a film producer tries to pay the mafia with money from an insurance scam. The film plays on Amazon Prime Video, and it stars Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman and Tommy Lee Jones!

Manisha Lakhe is a poet, film critic, traveller, founder of Caferati — an online writer’s forum, hosts Mumbai’s oldest open mic, and teaches advertising, films and communication. She can be reached on Twitter at @manishalakhe.
 

Article
85% of the respondents would consider cutting down on some luxury items so that they could spend more on health insurance
First Published: 09 May 2023, 05:03 PM IST