Consumer complaints to the Illinois Department of Insurance increased by nearly 8 percent in 1999, according to complaint information released today by Director Nathaniel S. Shapo. The Department investigated 14,867 cases in 1999, up from 13,812 in 1998. Of that total, 5,466 were health insurance complaints—an increase of 23 percent from the previous year. Property and casualty complaints decreased 15 percent, with auto insurance grievances down by 18 percent and homeowners by 1 percent.
Claim handling remained the most common cause of complaints. Among the health insurance lines, complaints against health maintenance organizations (HMOs) increased by 35 percent (from 1126 to 1521); group accident and health complaints by 23.5 percent (from 2271 to 2806); and individual accident and health complaints by 7 percent (from 1061 to 1139).
Shapo cautioned that HMO complaint numbers were skewed by the problems of the now defunct American Health Care Providers (AHCP). Complaints against the HMO, which was placed in liquidation on May 11, 2000, were nearly five times higher than in 1998, and accounted for nearly one-fourth of all HMO complaints in 1999.
“If AHCP’s complaints were subtracted from the mix, total HMO complaints increased by only 2.6 percent from 1998,” Shapo said. He also noted that commercial enrollment in HMOs increased by 1.5 percent in 1999.
Topics Trends Auto Homeowners Illinois
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