Consumers who file complaints with the Missouri Department of Insurance about their insurance company are choosing to keep their personal information confidential, according to the department’s statistics tabulated during September.
Of the 377 complaints filed with the department in September, 334 consumers chose to not authorize the release of any information. This represents almost 90 percent of all complaints filed with the office. Only 21 consumers authorized the department to release their medical records if those records were included as part of the complaint.
Oct. 1 marks one month since the adoption of H.B. 388, which protects complaint files submitted to the DOI from public disclosure.
Under the law, the DIO modified its consumer complaint form to include a provision for consumers to authorize the public release of their file. Before the change, personal information provided to the DOI as part of a consumer complaint was subject to release under Missouri’s open-records law.
Insurance consumers may file complaints on the department’s Web site at www.insurance.mo.gov, or call to request a complaint form on the department’s toll-free consumer line at 800-726-7390.
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