Missouri Regulators Recover a Record $21M from Insurers in 2011

Missouri insurance regulators say they returned a record amount in claims recoveries to consumers in 2011.

An additional $21 million was recovered from insurance companies by the Missouri Department of Insurance on behalf of consumers; the previous record was $14.6 million set in 2009.

Significant recoveries were returned to consumers related to the tornadoes in Joplin ($4.5 million), St. Louis ($640,000) and Sedalia ($250,000), the department said.

Statewide, the department handled more than 3,800 formal complaints and assisted more than 8,500 additional consumers in writing and another 21,000 over the telephone.

The most common categories of complaints received from consumers statewide were:

The department outlined some notable accomplishments from the past three months:

• A Joplin resident was offered $22,000 for his home and other structures for damages following the May 22 tornado. After the homeowner filed a complaint with the department, the insurance company agreed to meet with an engineer and contractor of the homeowner’s choice. The home was declared a total loss, which resulted in a payment of $98,000 to the homeowner.
• A Chillicothe woman was having trouble getting a death benefit from her husband’s life insurance policy seven months after a claim had been filed. After filing a complaint with the department, the beneficiary received a claim payment of more than $250,000.
• Parents of a newborn child from Boonville were having trouble adding their child to their health insurance plan. After filing a complaint with the department, the family’s health insurance company paid nearly $18,400 in claims that covered the child from birth to a subsequent surgery.
• A St. Louis woman contacted the department alleging signatures were forged on a recently purchased annuity contract. The department required the insurance company’s fraud investigation unit to fully review the inconsistencies of the signatures. After investigating the issue, the company issued a full refund of more than $630,000.

The department’s Market Conduct Section managed nearly 150 examinations and investigations in 2011, returning $1.77 million to consumers who were underpaid on claims or whose premiums were too high.

Those enforcement efforts also resulted in $465,000 in fines from insurance companies.

Source: Missouri Department of Insurance

Topics Carriers Homeowners Missouri