Texas Regulators Recover $32.4M in Premium Refunds, Claim Payments

(All content, text, and images courtesy of Claimsjournal.com & the Associated Press. Please visit the link for the article. http://www.claimsjournal.com/news/southcentral/2015/01/21/260390.htm)

Consumer protection staff for the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) were able to recover $32.4 million for Texas consumers during the past year as a result of complaint resolution, the agency announced recently.

The money came from premium refunds and additional claim payments to consumers that were recovered through TDI investigations of claims disputes.

TDI answered 174,000 calls to its toll-free Consumer Help Line and resolved more than 19,400 complaints during the past year, with an average resolution time of 40 days.

TDI’s Enforcement Division also returned money to Texas pocketbooks in 2014. TDI assessed $109.2 million in restitution for Texas consumers from insurance carriers and agents doing business in Texas last year. That figure does not include $4.8 million in penalties for insurance violations and $1.8 million assessed for workers’ compensation violations.

In addition, TDI’s Fraud Unit opened 728 cases for investigation last year, referring 188 for prosecution, resulting in 113 indictments. The estimated amount of insurance fraud identified in these cases totaled $9.9 million. Overall, restitution assessed by courts on TDI Fraud Unit cases totaled $24.4 million.