By
Miami
Disability insurers should consider coming up with some kind of dispute resolution system or other remedy for angry claimants.
Karen Ignagni, president of Americas Health Insurance Plans, presented that idea at a disability conference organized by JHA Inc., Portland, Maine.
Health carriers found they had more room to work once they began to accept some kinds of patient protection and external review requirements, Ignagni told an audience made up mostly of disability insurance company executives.
Disability insurers have been facing tough questions from state insurance regulators. In some states, regulators have asked whether "discretionary clauses" and other contract provisions give insurers too much leeway when evaluating disability claims.
When health carriers responded to similar concerns by embracing external review systems, "things changed very dramatically," Ignagni said. "Consumers could see we were willing to be accountable."
