Share Your Story · Public-Interest Submission
Help Build the Public Record
Help document how auto insurance, medical billing, disclosure practices,
claim conduct and settlement systems affect people after serious crashes.
A well-organized story can help reveal recurring patterns without requiring
unnecessary disclosure of private information.
Overview
Why submit a story
Most people experience the post-crash system in isolation. They may not
know whether what happened was unusual, routine, preventable or part of
a larger pattern. Structured story submissions can help turn scattered
private experiences into a clearer public record.
Why stories matter
Stories can show how similar problems repeat across different families,
insurers, employers, hospitals, billing systems, tow yards, collection
channels and claim pathways.
Why structure matters
A story becomes more useful when it clearly shows timing, sequence,
documents, entities and pressure points that can be compared with
other experiences.
Best submission
Factual, organized, tied to dates and records, and focused on the
system problem rather than conclusions alone.
Main caution
Do not send highly sensitive or unnecessary records through ordinary
public-facing channels.
The strongest story is not the angriest story. It is the clearest,
most factual and most document-grounded story.
Useful Stories
What makes a story useful
Date or approximate time period
Timing helps compare one story to another and identify patterns.
Main issue encountered
Examples include low limits, delayed disclosure, MedPay trouble, work-use confusion, liens, claim delay, hidden coverage or release pressure.
Sequence of events
The order of what happened often matters more than general conclusions.
Entities involved
Insurers, hospitals, employers, contractors, billing companies, collection vendors and others may reveal recurring system actors.
Written communications
Letters, emails, notices, settlement offers, policy materials, release drafts and billing notices can be critical.
Practical effect
Describe what pressure followed, what changed, what deadlines appeared and what consequences resulted.
Submission Structure
A useful story can usually be organized in seven parts
The goal is to make the public pattern visible without requiring anyone
to sort through an entire claim file.
Describe the crash or event in general factual terms.
Identify the main insurance, billing, disclosure or settlement problem that followed.
Summarize material explanations or positions given by insurers, providers, employers, billing entities or other actors.
Name the letters, bills, lien notices, emails, policy materials, releases or complaint responses involved.
Describe delay, billing pressure, missing policy information, collection activity, release pressure or other practical harm.
Explain what happened next or where the matter stands today.
Identify the larger public-interest issue the story may help document.
Submission
Prepare the story before sending anything sensitive
VictimsGuide is developing a structured public-interest intake process.
Until a dedicated secure upload mechanism is available on this page,
prepare a concise factual summary first and do not transmit full medical,
financial or claim files through an ordinary public channel.
Basic contact
Name, email and preferred contact method, if you want follow-up.
Crash setting
Approximate date, county or city and basic crash type.
Main issue category
Low limits, disclosure failure, MedPay, liens, work-use, release pressure, complaint issue or another recurring pattern.
Factual summary
What happened, what was said, what records exist and what pressure followed.
Consent preference
Research only, anonymous/de-identified public use, or identified public use only with separate written approval.
Privacy acknowledgment
Do not send highly sensitive documents unless specifically requested through an appropriate protected process.
initial contact should summarize the issue. Full records, medical files,
financial records, claim files and credentials should not be sent casually.
Consent & Use
Submissions should have clear use choices
A story may inform educational pages, pattern summaries, reform materials,
white papers and future public-interest research. Not every submission
should be published, and identifying details should not be assumed to be
available for public use.
Research-only use
The story may help identify patterns without being published or quoted publicly.
Anonymous or de-identified public use
The story may be summarized without identifying the person, family, claim number, policy number or unnecessary private details.
Identified public use
Identifying details should be used only with separate, clear, written approval.
After Submission
What submission may—and does not—do
What may happen
Submissions may be reviewed for clarity and relevance, grouped by
issue category, used to shape educational materials or reports,
retained privately, or used to identify recurring actors, timing
issues or structural patterns.
What submission does not do
It does not create attorney-client representation or a legal-services
relationship, and it does not guarantee publication, investigation,
follow-up or an immediate response.
submitting a story supports public-interest pattern review. It is not a
request for legal representation and should not be treated as legal advice.
What We Are Looking For
Public-interest categories
Low policy limits after serious injury
When available bodily-injury coverage is plainly inadequate for the documented loss.
“Full coverage” confusion
When the actual protection differs materially from what the consumer believed had been purchased.
Delayed or incomplete policy disclosure
When the policy picture remains hidden, arrives late or omits potentially relevant policies or documents.
Hidden or additional policies
When umbrella, employer, owner, household, commercial or other policies appear late or incompletely.
Work-vehicle or employer issues
When a personal-policy story may conceal a broader work-related claim structure.
Project-owner or contractor issues
When a crash may connect to a larger project, site, access route, contractor, owner or insurance structure.
MedPay confusion, delay or denial
When early medical-payment protection is misunderstood, delayed, underused or mishandled.
Hospital billing, liens or collections
When medical-financial systems create pressure before the liability or coverage picture is clear.
Release pressure before the full loss is known
When finality is pushed before treatment, coverage, liens or UM/UIM questions are mature.
Claim-conduct or complaint-record problems
When delay, vague explanations, missing documents or under-investigation make the claim difficult to evaluate without a disciplined record.
Privacy
What not to send casually
The initial submission should identify the public-interest pattern without
exposing unnecessary private information.
Avoid sending casually
Social Security numbers, full driver’s-license numbers, bank or credit-card
information, passwords or credentials, full claim files, full medical records,
or anything you would not want exposed if transmitted insecurely.
Safer first submission
Approximate date and location, issue type, entities involved, general
timeline, types of records received, what pressure followed and what
public pattern the story may show.
share only what is reasonably necessary to identify the public-interest issue.
Workflow
Story-to-pattern workflow
Turn a confusing private experience into a structured submission that can
be compared with other records.
1. Identify the problem
Low limits, hidden insurance, delayed disclosure, MedPay, billing/liens, work-use or settlement pressure.
2. Identify the timeline
Crash date, claim report, bill or lien dates, policy request, offer or release, complaint or denial.
3. Identify the documents
Letters, emails, policy disclosures, offers, release drafts, bills, lien notices and complaint records.
Write down: crash date; county or city; type of crash; main issue;
insurers involved; medical-billing entities; employer or work-use issue;
policy-disclosure issue; MedPay issue; UM/UIM issue; hospital lien or
collection issue; settlement or release pressure; key dates; key documents;
what pattern the story may show; what should remain private; what can safely
be summarized publicly; and your consent preference.
Public Understanding
From private experience to public understanding
A serious crash can leave people isolated and pressured. Repeated experiences
can become pattern evidence, and pattern evidence can support education,
accountability, complaint strategy and reform.
A single story can explain harm. Repeated stories can reveal structure.
Documented structure can support reform.
Authorities & Public-Record Anchors
Use current official and VictimsGuide sources
Colorado Division of Insurance
Insurance regulation, consumer assistance and complaint resources.
File a Complaint
State complaint-routing resource for DORA-regulated programs.
C.R.S. § 10-3-1104 and § 10-3-1117
Colorado law addresses specified unfair insurance practices and automobile-liability policy disclosures.
Stories & Reform
Explains how organized stories can reveal recurring public-interest patterns.
20 Illusions of Auto Insurance
Twenty recurring assumptions that can hide coverage or create premature finality.
Policy Disclosures Guide
Request and audit policies, limits, endorsements, umbrella coverage and incomplete productions.
Short glossary
Story submission
A factual account shared to help identify recurring insurance, billing, lien, disclosure, claim-conduct or settlement patterns.
Pattern evidence
Repeated facts, documents, timing, actors or pressure points suggesting a broader issue beyond one private dispute.
Complaint record
A dated, document-supported record that can support an administrative complaint, report or reform analysis.
Policy disclosure
The process of obtaining relevant insurance information, including insurer identity, insured names, limits, policy copies and excess or umbrella coverage.
Public-interest use
Use of a story to educate, identify patterns, support reform or explain how systems operate in practice.
Anonymous or de-identified use
Use of a story without unnecessary identifying information.
Privacy filter
The discipline of removing unnecessary medical, financial, personal and identifying details before public use.
Release pressure
Pressure to sign settlement documents before material medical, policy, lien, UM/UIM or responsibility questions are mature.
Read Next
Understand the system before sharing the story