Westhill Insurance Consulting Forum No more fast track review for ..

Insurance companies looking to make changes to the residential homeowners’ policies they offer no longer have a fast-track review process by regulators to get the new policies to the marketplace.

Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty decided not to extend an order allowing for companies’ form filings to forgo a thorough examination by regulators. The order expired Dec. 31.

Originally issued in June 2012, the order was designed to clear a backlog of 1,500 form filings in the Office of Insurance Regulation. Some companies looking to make changes to their sinkhole coverage, permitted by a 2011 law (SB 408), were still waiting 12 months after the law took effect.

OIR cited budget cuts, a lack of experienced workers, convoluted filings from companies and a series of changes in insurance laws as the reasons the backlog developed. McCarty extended the order for six months in June when the backlog stood at 461 filings, reasoning that another backlog could soon develop.

With five extra staffers to review claims and a backlog of just 173 pending filings – none of which have been pending for more than 45 days – regulators now think they have enough manpower to prevent another backlog from piling up.

“The Legislature gave us a pretty good amount of additional resources last year and we think the additional resources will help us to process the filings in a timely manner,” OIR deputy chief of staff Monte Stevens said.

Consumer advocates worried the order would let companies rush new products into the market that hadn’t been properly vetted. But Stevens said there were just two instances where companies certified new changes were in compliance with the law but regulators later found flaws with the filings. He said the flaws were discovered before the new policies were sold to homeowners, but OIR is looking into other cases where incorrect filings may have been made.