Checking up on your insurance carrier

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) now allows you to check the number and types of complaints against your insurance companies, including your medical professional liability insurer. By visiting its Web site at http://www.naic.com/, you can find out the number of complaints by state and their disposition, the ratio of complaints to the insurer's market share, as well as licensing and financial information.

According to Medical Liability Monitor (2/2006), the top three reasons consumers complained about their insurers in 2005 were delays (21.96%), denials of claims (18.71%), and unsatisfactory settlement offers (14.23%). The NAIC is a voluntary organization of chief regulatory officials in the United States and five U.S. territories.