Many of us naively believe that our insurance providers, whether they provide medical, car or home insurance, are here to provide a level of protection for when an accident, illness or tragedy occurs. We assume that that because we’ve paid our premiums that the insurance companies will fulfill their promise to provide financial relief.

In a newly released report from The American Association for Justice (AAJ), “Tricks of the Trade: How Insurance Companies Deny, Delay, Confuse and Refuse”, describes the ways in which insurance companies boost their profits at the expense of consumers. This is a follow up of the AAJ report “The Ten Worst Insurance Companies in America”.

The new report details six tactics the insurance companies employ to deny policyholders, the names of the insurance companies that are using these tactics and it explains what consumers can do to fight back and protect themselves from these devious tactics.

This first thing you can do to protect yourself is to educate yourself—read the report. And, don’t just assume you’re covered, read your policy and if you don’t understand some of the language, talk to your insurance representative. What you don’t know can hurt you later.