Missouri Insurance Regulators Get Fewer Complaints

Missouri insurance regulators received a total of 2,728 life and health line claims in 2018, down 5.3% from the total for 2017.

The number of complaints received fell for every major coverage category, according to officials at the Missouri Department of Insurance, Financial Institutions & Professional Registration.

Complaint rates can fall because consumers are more satisfied, consumers are less aware of procedures for filing complaints, or insurance regulators change the way they take in and record complaints.

The Missouri department report shows the number of complaints fell the most for health maintenance organizations — 34%, to 19.

News organizations have carried articles about consumer unhappiness with increases in life insurance premiums, insurer efforts to buy out annuity holders with rich benefits guarantees, and glitch-plagued efforts to shift policyholders from one policyholder administration system to another.

But the Missouri complaint data shows that the number life and annuity complaints fell 16%, to 317.

The number of complaints related to long-term care insurance (LTCI) fell 11%, to 64.

For long-term care insurance, two major complaint categories were denial of claim and claim handling delays. The number of complaints related to those two categories increased to 27, from 18.

The number of LTCI policy service complaints, such as complaints about LTCI rates and LTCI premium notices, fell to 20, from 34.