Washington Commissioner Fines Insurers, Producers $495,200

Washington Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer’s office reported fines totaling $495,200 against insurance companies, agencies and producers for insurance law violations between April and August.

The two largest fines were against USAA Casualty Insurance Co. and Allstate Vehicle and Property Insurance Co. for violations in how the companies handled policyholder claims.

Other fines and offenses reported by the Office of the Insurance Commissioner include:

Alaska National Insurance Co., Anchorage, Alaska; fined $40,000
The company charged garage rates that were not approved in its filings, impacting three policyholders, and failed to file its hired and non-owned rates before using them, impacting 2,298 policyholders.

Express Scripts Inc., Wilmington, Del.; fined $35,000
The health care benefit manager failed to report seven previous administrative and disciplinary actions from state regulators in its initial registration application and did not provide a complete accounting of those actions in subsequent annual filings. The company also failed to report material changes within the required timeframe and provided incorrect, incomplete or false information to the OIC.

Providence Health Plan, Portland, Ore.; fined $30,000
Providence incorrectly denied 51 claims for physical therapy and occupational therapy services between January 2023 and August 2024. The company reprocessed the claims and paid $11,719.97 to members and providers.

Amguard Insurance Co., Omaha, Neb.; fined $30,000
The company issued policies with incorrect rating factors in 852 instances and used superseded forms in 546 instances.

Unitrin Auto and Home Insurance Co., Dewitt, N.Y.; fined $35,000
The company used incorrect rating factors on 2,576 home insurance policies between 2019 and 2023, impacting 1,844 homeowners.

First National Insurance Co. of America, Portsmouth, N.H.; fined $25,000
The company failed to timely process consumers’ auto claims and related investigations and did not respond to communications within the required timeframe on 19 claims between January 2023 and July 2024.

New York Marine & General Life Insurance Co., New York, N.Y.; fined $7,500
The company used rates that were not approved in its filings in 256 transactions involving 245 policies, resulting in premium overcharges and undercharges. The company returned the overcharges and waived the undercharges.

Medical Review Institute of America LLC, Dover, Del.; fined $5,000
The company failed to report a material change and did not file contract forms or amendments within the required timeframe.

Arch Insurance Co., Kansas City, Mo.; fined $5,000
The company issued policies with incorrect construction types, rate types and protection classes.

Praetorian Insurance Co., Harrisburg, Pa.; fined $5,000
The company applied incorrect construction year assignments and incorrectly listed the number of building units on renters’ policies, resulting in incorrect rating factors on 49 policies.

Dentists Insurance Co., Sacramento, Calif.; fined $5,000
The company used rates that were not approved in its filings.

DTG Operations Inc., The Hertz Corp., Thrifty Car Rental, The Woodlands, Texas; fined $5,000
The company twice told Washington consumers they were required to purchase rental car insurance and did business under an unregistered trade name without notifying the OIC.

UnitedHealthcare of Washington Inc., Seattle, Wash.; fined $5,000
The company issued adverse benefit determinations or limited access to gender-affirming care in 50 claims without assigning them to a health care provider with experience in that treatment to review and confirm the determinations.

Stillwater Insurance Co., Santa Barbara, Calif.; fined $3,500
The company incorrectly applied sprinkler credits and construction type rating factors, resulting in premium errors.

American Dental Examiners Inc., New Rochelle, N.Y.; fined $3,000
The company failed to report a material change and electronically file contract forms and amendments within the required timeframe.

Brown & Brown Insurance Services Inc. and Hays Companies Inc., Tampa, Fla.; fined $2,500
The companies did business under an unregistered trade name and failed to notify the OIC.

Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., New York, N.Y.; fined $2,000
The company failed to electronically file contract forms and amendments within the required timeframe.

Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., New York, N.Y.; fined $1,500
The company failed to timely file large group negotiated rates.

Jacob Collins, Spokane, Wash.; fined $6,500

Noelle Otersen, Liberty Lake, Wash.; fined $3,000

Robyn M. Roberts, Lawrenceville, Ga.; fined $2,500

InsuranceHub Leavitt Agency Inc.; fined $2,500

Sherry A. Johnson, Ephrata, Wash.; fined $2,000

Citlally Mancilla and Perpetuus Insurance Agency, San Antonio, Texas; fined $1,500

PracticeProtection Insurance Services LLC, Jacksonville, Fla.; fined $1,500

Mathew William Nicholas, Newport Beach, Calif.; fined $500

Michael Lawson, Dallas, Texas; fined $250

Topics Carriers Washington