FOX 4 WFTX - Cape Coral, Fort Myers, Naples News, WeatherInsurance confusion: She thought she was covered

Insurance confusion: She thought she was covered

Cindy Sammons used to work at Coyote's in Punta Gorda.

"I can't work so I have zero money to pay my bills, which in turn is going to cause me to lose my car," she told me.  "It's going to cause me to get evicted out of my apartment.  It's going to cause my credit to go way down."

Cindy got in a car accident two weeks ago and broke her wrist.  She thought she was covered, since she has been paying $42.34 out of her paychecks for insurance.

But when Cindy tried to cash in, she found out her insurance company, Aflec, hasn't gotten any of her money.  She thinks her old employer pocketed it.

"There's laws for everybody but Florida is a Right to Work state, so employees can turn around and say, 'you're fired' for no reason but we have nothing to cover us when they do something like this," she told me.  "There's nothing to help us out there."

So I called Coyote's owner.  He wouldn't talk on camera, but told me Cindy canceled her own insurance a long time ago.

Two very different stories.  So I went straight to the insurance agent to see the paperwork.

Barry Rosenberg confirms, Cindy didn't cancel anything.  She signed up in March, but the insurance company says it never received a single payment.  So she was never covered.

"If her coverage was in effect, she would still have coverage and the option to keep it," he told me.  "But the way it seemed to work out, the coverage never went into effect because nobody ever paid the premium."

Cindy filed a complaint with the sheriff's office. In the meantime, the bar owner says he's also filing a lawsuit against her.

And the insurance agent's only advice: If you're paying for insurance through your work, make sure your company is making payments to the insurance carrier.

Pooja Lodhia
Reporter