Date: 02/24/2009
Final
Division of Insurance
HOUSE COMMITTEE ON BUSINESS AFFAIRS AND LABOR
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01:12 PM -- Division of Insurance
Colorado Insurance Commissioner Marcy Morrison introduced Peg Brown, the Deputy Commissioner of Consumer Affairs, Division of Insurance and distributed an organization chart of the division and three brochures from the division (Attachment A and B respectfully).
01:12 PM -- Peg Brown explained that she is the Deputy Commissioner of Consumer Affairs for property and casualty, life, and health insurance. She explained that consumers typically contact the division when they questions their insurance company or cannot get a hold of their insurance company. She said the division has a wide variety of brochures and publications available to consumers. Ms. Brown explained that a consumer can file a complaint with the division on-line or by mail. Once a complaint is filed, the division analyzes it to determine whether the division has jurisdiction, and if it does, then the division attempts to resolve the issue. Ms. Brown explained that if the insurance company is found to have done something wrong, the division can either take an enforcement action or send the complaint to the Compliance and Investigations Unit.
01:15 PM
Ms. Brown talked about the Annual Report of the Commissioner of Insurance to the Colorado General Assembly on Complaints Against Insurers for FY 2007-2008 (Attachment C). She pointed out that automobile insurance complaints are the most common the division receives which include disputes over the cancelation of a policy, a surcharge due to an accident they were involved in where they were not at fault, or their record is clean and the insurance company has the wrong information. Ms. Brown stated that the division took 25,000 phone calls from consumers and handled 4,500 complaints, and recovered $10 million for consumers last year. She talked about the top ten complaints from consumers that are provided in the report on page 16. Representative Balmer asked how many denial of claims complaints end up with the division advising the consumer that the insurance company is following the insurance contract. Ms. Brown directed the committee to page 13 of the report that illustrates the number of complaints where the insurance industry was found to be wrong.
01:19 PM -- Commissioner Morrison introduced John Postolowski, the Deputy Commissioner of Finance and Administration. Mr. Postolowski talked about the following sections in the Finance and Administration Unit:
- Actuarial;
- Corporate Affairs;
- Financial Analysts;
- Financial Examiners;
- Producer Licensing;
- Market Regulation;
- Rates and Forms; and
- Office Management.
01:26 PM
Insurance Commissioner Morrison talked about the recent issue of the federal government overseeing insurance that has been brought up and is being discussed in Washington, D.C. She explained that for the last 150 years insurance has been handled by the states and urged the members to follow the issue.
01:28 PM
The committee adjourned.