The National Association of Insurance Commissioners' (NAIC) has released its annual list of top consumer complaints, and as in recent years, the top three issues reported by consumers were dominated by claim-related issues.

According to the NAIC, the top three reasons consumers filed formal complaints against their insurance companies in 2008 were delays, denials of claims, and unsatisfactory settlement offers made by an insurer. These are the same issues that have dominated NAIC's study since 2006. There also is consistency in regards to the lines of insurance that garner the most consumer complaints. Accident and health ranks first, followed by auto, homeowners', life and annuity, and lastly commercial multi-peril.

A total of 195,669 confirmed consumer complaints on insurance companies were reported to the Complaint Database System (CDS) in the 2008 calendar year. The NAIC said that this information is based on the submission of data to them from the state insurance departments. The CDS is continually updated as new information is received from the states on an ongoing basis. The NAIC does not collect all complaint data from all states.

Top Five Reasons for Complaints in 2008

Claim-related issues dominated NAIC's list of consumer complaints by a wide margin. Below are the top issues, followed by the number of complaints received.

Delays

26,844

Denial of Claim

25,851

Unsatisfactory Settlement/Offer

20,021

Premium and Rating

6,644

Cancellation

5,618

More information is available at www.naic.org.

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