Missouri Department Receives 8K Complaints Against Insurers in 3-Year Span

April 17, 2019

Over a three-year period between 2016 and 2018, the Missouri Department of Insurance received almost 8,000 complaints against companies providing selected lines of insurance, according to a report recently released by the department.

Seven lines of business are covered in the DOI’s 2018 Consumer Complaint Index. They are private passenger automobile, life and annuity, accident and health, long-term care, Medicare supplement, HMOs and homeowners, which includes farm, mobile home, personal fire and allied lines.

For most lines of insurance, the most common reason for complaints was claim denials or other issues arising from the claim settlement process. Health insurance generated the most complaints. Complaints for all lines of insurance declined modestly over the last several years, according to the insurance department.

Consumers can use the report to determine how their insurer stacks up against others for a given line of business.

One of the reasons the department makes this information publicly available is to allow consumers to use the index as a metric when choosing between different insurance companies. The complaint index compares the ratio of complaints to premium sales for each company to the industry average, for each line of business.

Companies with a complaint index of 100 percent or more shows that the department received more complaints than the industry average for that company. Companies with a complaint index of less than 100 percent had fewer complaints filed against them than industry average and companies with a complaint index of 100 percent were on par with the industry average.

“Choosing an insurance product can be confusing for some consumers,” Missouri Department of Insurance, Financial Institutions and Professional Registration Director Chlora Lindley-Myers said in a media release. “Comparing the number of complaints against a company can be helpful when determining the right product for you and your family.”

Missouri’s 2018 Consumer Complaint Index can be found on the department’s website, https://insurance.mo.gov/.

Source: Missouri DOI

Topics Carriers Missouri

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