According to data released by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), the top three reasons consumers filed formal complaints against their insurance companies in 2007 were delays (16% of complaints), denials of claims (15%) and unsatisfactory settlement offers (9.8%). Policy cancellations (4.6%) and premium/insurance rating Issues (4.4%) completed the top five. When it comes to type of coverage, accident and health topped the list at 36.4% of complaints, followed closely by auto with 34.4%. Homeowners, life and annuity and commercial multi-peril rounded out the top five types with 12.5%, 9%, and 1.8%, respectively. A total of 222,814 consumer complaints were reported to the Complaint Database System in the 2007 calendar year. This represents a 3.6 percent decrease from the number of complaints reported in 2006.
February 6, 2008