Monday, May 16, 2011

Recent cases from our consumer files

Got an insurance question or problem and live in Washington? We may be able to help. (We're the state insurance regulator for Washington.) Give us a call at 1-800-562-6900 or e-mail AskMike@oic.wa.gov.

What kinds of things do we deal with? Here's a sampling of cases from last month:
  • We convinced a health insurer to pay an additional $3,000 in surgery claims for a patient.
  • We got another insurer to pay more than $10,000 in claims that had been denied due to what the company maintained was a pre-existing condition.
  • We helped a Seattle consumer resolve claim delays on his mother's life insurance policy, leading to a $25,000 payment, plus interest.
  • When a health insurer repeatedly refused to pay claims because the patient's birthdate on the claim forms didn't match what they (erroneously) had in their records, we got the situation resolved and the claims paid.
  • And we helped mediate a dispute over a totaled vehicle's value, meaning that the consumer got nearly $1,000 more than originally offered.