National Consumer Protection Week: How OIC’s Consumer Advocacy Program recovered nearly $27M for people in 2022

The OIC’s Consumer Advocacy Program can answer your questions and help you understand your rights.

Each year, the Federal Trade Commission leads the way in National Consumer Protection Week to help make people more aware of their rights as consumers. The tradition has been held every year, during the first full week of March, since 1998.

Part of the Office of the Insurance Commissioner’s mission is to protect consumers, and our Consumer Advocacy Program spearheads that work by answering your insurance questions and helping you understand your rights. In 2022, the OIC processed 8,603 consumer complaints — which led the recovery of a whopping $26,938,470 for consumers. Staff also answered almost 84,000 calls from consumers about insurance issues, rights and responsibilities.

Here’s a few of our recent success stories:

• A consumer contacted us when their insurer failed to pay for asbestos remediation. We contacted the company on their behalf and helped them settle a $15,000 claim.
• One person reached out about an issue with their health insurer. We discovered the company had not paid 40 similar claims. That one call resulted in everyone impacted recovering $320,000 for previously-denied claims.
• Another person was having issues getting a life insurance claim processed. After repeated delays, they contacted us. We stepped in and helped the consumer get their $145,750 claim settled.
• We helped another consumer get $382,000 in medical bills paid after their insurer failed to cover their emergency care services.
• Another insurer delayed settling a claim after an auto accident. The consumer contacted us after the company failed to inspect the damaged vehicle. After we reached out to the company, they provided the inspection and settled the claim for $34,399.

Our Consumer Advocacy Program helps consumers like this every day. You can learn more about how the process works here.