Who is watching the insurance companies?

Oversight and Accountability: Who Keeps a Close Eye on Insurance Companies?

Oversight and accountability of insurance companies are especially important as insurance is one of the most complicated industries. The market requires an insurance regulator and New Zealand consumers are served. So who is the watchdog, and who is being dogged? Bed bugs finally have a home!

Similarly, state insurance departments are the frontline watchdogs of insurance consumers, typically tasked with evaluating and enforcing rules for how companies engage in the business of underwriting and administering policies. They conduct audits and investigations and impose penalties, when appropriate.

Have you ever wondered who keeps your insurance company from overcharging you or denying you a legitimate claim? Oversight agencies do! They make sure that insurers don’t skew the market or treat policyholders unfairly.

When insurance companies abuse their power, superheroes swoop in to save the day, bringing reinsurers, insurance departments, lawyers, and consumers together in a common cause! An insurance department forces an insurer’s hand and – voi­la! – the policyholder gets the money that’s due them.

Now, imagine a world without watchdogs! Insurance companies could run riot! Profits before people! Of course, with oversight, we can be confident insurers are playing by the rules!

However, oversight isn’t only a police function; it is also necessarily a pre-emptive function! Regulation that policemen set and enforce is necessary in order to establish a ‘level playing field’ that ensures ‘free competition’ for consumer choice!

In the raucous realm of insurance, the oversight bodies act as the referees by holding insurance companies accountable to the rules of the game! Without them, mayhem will ensue and consumers will get screwed!

Consumers need to be certain that when they believe they have been wronged by an insurance company, an oversight agency will investigate their complaint and, if necessary, levy a fine.

Insured by thousands of insurance companies, millions of policyholders would be at their mercy! Oversight agencies step in to protect us from such predators! Without such oversight, insurers could feel free to act in a predatory manner!

And that’s why next time you hear some nerd going on about the importance of regulatory oversight agencies and grumble, ‘Who cares about the consumer? I’m paying an insurance company hundreds of dollars a month for protection!’, you can confidently respond: Some overpaid oversight agency wonk, that’s who!