Ohio Insurance Department Recovered $11.4M for Consumers in 2009

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Claim denials were the number one complaint of Ohio insurance consumers in 2009, according to statistics released by the Ohio Department of Insurance.

Nearly one-third of the 5,453 consumer complaints received by the department dealt with the denial of insurance claims. Of these, the majority related to denial of health insurance claims. As a result of reviewing the total number of complaints, the department saved or recovered more than $11.4 million for Ohioans in 2009.

The department’s consumer services staff fielded 79,525 phone calls in 2009. There were 1,053 fewer consumer complaints filed in 2009, down from 6,506 complaints in 2008.

A closed complaint is a complaint that has been reviewed and resolved to the satisfaction of the state or jurisdiction in which it is filed.

The following lists show the top five types of consumer complaints for Ohio and the United States:

Top five types of Ohio consumer complaints in 2009

1.	Claim Denials	30.9%
2.	Claim Settlement/Payment Delays	17.5%
3.	Unsatisfactory Settlement/Offer	13.0%
4.	Policy Cancellations/Non-Renewals	5.3%
5.	Marketing/Sales Misrepresentations	5.2%

Top five Ohio complaints by type of coverage in 2009

1.	Accident/Health	40.5%
2.	Auto	23.9%
3.	Homeowners/Renter	16.0%
4.	Life and Annuity	14.1%
5.	Other Coverage	5.5%

Top five types of national consumer complaints in 2009

1.	Denial of Claims	18.7 %
2.	Delays	17.6 %
3.	Unsatisfactory Settlement/Offer	14.9 %
4.	Premium/Ratings	5.0 %
5.	Cancellations	4.2%

Top five national complaints by type of coverage in 2009

1.	Accident/Health	36.0%
2.	Auto	35.8 %
3.	Homeowners	13.5 %
4.	Life and Annuity	9.8 %
5.	Other Coverage	4.9 %

A total of 189,169 nationwide consumer complaints were reported to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) in 2009. This represents a 3.3 percent decrease from the number of nationwide consumer complaints reported during the 2008 calendar year.

This information is based on the submission of closed complaint data to the NAIC from the state insurance departments. Aggregate data can be accessed on the NAIC’s Web site, www.naic.org.

Source: Ohio Department of Insurance

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