When you are shopping for health insurance it would be helpful
to know how often health insurance companies fail to provide the
service you would expect. The Arizona Department of Insurance
has released a report listing fines and complaints filed against
health insurance companies in the state.
The report covers 27 insurers or about 75% of the companies
serving Arizona. Does the report reflect health insurance
performance in other states? I can't be sure, but it does give
us a peek into the workings of the health insurance industry.
United Healthcare of Arizona is one of the major insurers in the
state and it had the highest number of complaints per insurance
policy. Time Insurance and Mega Life And Health Insurance are
smaller companies and they had even high complaint ratios.
In Arizona Humana Health Plan satisfies the appeals of its
insured more than any other company. On the other hand the
report shows that Mega resolves fewer appeals to the
satisfaction of the insured.
When it comes to the number of fines levied in the past 5-years
by the AZ Department of Insurance the Arizona arm of CGNA
Healthcare garbs the top spot. They were assessed the most fines.
If you would like to read more about the performance of health
insurance companies you can find the full report online if you
do a search for "Report on AZ Health Insurers". Chances are the
insurance department or commission in your state issues a
similar report.
Another fact we can learn from this Arizona report is that your
state's insurance regulatory body may be able to help you in a
dispute with your insurance company. You can find state
insurance regulators on the internet by doing a search for
National Association of Insurance Commissioners. The NAIC has a
map of the United States on their web page. Just click on your
state and you'll find your state's insurance department
information.
Before you buy any policy it would be sensible to learn just
which health insurance companies fail to please consumers in
your state.
About the author:
Mark Walters offers guidance on chosing a health insurance
company through his web pages at
http://www.HealthInsuranceMonster.com
