Miller said 4,830 Pennsylvania consumers received restitution payments or credits in the first three months of 2015, primarily in the following four main areas.

Restoration of stolen funds. The Insurance Department investigated cases in which an insurance agent collected a personal check or cash as payment for a policy or annuity, but never sent that money to the insurance company, often stealing the customer's money. In these instances, the department required the agent to repay the customer. If the agent couldn't make this repayment, the insurance company for which the agent sold the policy is required to do so.
Processing and payment of previously denied or underpaid claims. When an Insurance Department investigation found that a customer's claim was inappropriately denied or only partially paid, the department required the company to pay the claim as it should under the policy.
Refunding of overcharged premiums. Private auto and homeowners insurers must, under Pennsylvania law, receive prior approval from the Insurance Department for the rates they charge. When an investigation found an insurance company was using rates that were not approved, any premium payments above the rate that would have been approved were returned to the customers either in refunds or credits to the policy premiums.
Making payments under a multi-state settlement with life insurance companies. Pennsylvania participated in a multi-state examination of life insurance companies, resulting in companies entering into settlement agreements requiring them to reform the way they do business for the benefit of policyholders and beneficiaries across the country. Insurance regulators nationwide focused on the life insurance industry's selective use of the Social Security Administration's Death Master File (DMF), and found that although some companies properly used this file, others used it to terminate the payment of annuity benefits, while at the same time failing to trigger the payment of life insurance policy benefits. Moving forward, life insurance companies that have entered these settlement agreements will use the DMF to identify potentially unpaid insurance benefits and search for beneficiaries to whom benefits might be due.

Miller urged anyone with concerns about insurance issues in Pennsylvania to visit www.insurance.pa.gov, and click on "Services for Consumers," or call 1-877-881-6388.

Special Reports /

Insurers pay $66.8M in restitution in Q1 2015 to Pa. consumers

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