Complaints about health insurance are the biggest part of complaints filed so far this year with the state insurance department.
The Missouri Department of Insurance says it has taken in more than 27-hundred formal complaints in the first half of this calendar year, with the biggest complaints focusing on denials of claims by individual health insurance companies. Delay of claims processing by group health companies is the second biggest category.
Department spokesman Travis Ford is not surprised by the numbers. He says most kinds of insurance are competitive and affordable. But he says health insurance becoming more expensive and companies "can be picky" about what they cover.
Among the biggest settlements the department has gotten for consumers so far this year is 103-thousand dollars from an insurer that refused to cover mental health treatments…and recovery of more than 88-thousand dollars for a man denied benefits under two disability policies.
Ford says people should not be bashful about filing complaints with the department.
instrav 4:53
upload BP’s interview with Travis Ford (4:52 mp3)
