Insurance company to pay $1.1 M for claims violations – seattlepi.com

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP)– A life insurance business has consented to a $1.1 million penalty after North Carolina regulators found claims processing offenses and hold-ups, according to state Insurance coverage Commissioner Mike Causey.

Gerber Life Insurance Co., which the Department of Insurance says went into a voluntary settlement arrangement, also is paying $2.5 million in extra healings and interest to claimants.

An assessment of 300 claims from over 7 years exposed many violations with Gerber Life’s accidental death and dismemberment policies, a department news release late recently said.

Birth parents were initially rejected advantages for children and needed to send out in clothes receipts and other unnecessary paperwork to show a parent-child relationship, according to the department. Some claimants needed to demand advantages, which meant attorneys’ costs lowered what they ultimately received, and the business didn’t pay interest on untimely paid claims.

Causey’s firm also said the assessment discovered a third-party administrator that Gerber contracted to handle claims wasn’t licensed in North Carolina up until almost 3 years after it started the work.