Georgia's insurance commissioner looks to crack down on insurance company mistakes
Georgia's insurance commissioner recovered more than $100 million since 2019 from insurance companies for consumers.
But many Georgians don't even know they can file a complaint.
When a tree fell on Jorge Diez's Buckhead home in February, his insurance company refused to pay for temporary housing for his family, including his 2-year-old daughter, who was recovering from ear surgery.
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He said, "I mean, we can't cook. There's a hole in the roof. The flooring has been taken up."
Next, Diez did what any Georgian can. He filed a complaint with the State Insurance Commissioner.
Insurance Commissioner John King said his office has recovered more than $100 million for consumers from insurance companies since 2019.
"File a complaint. We will investigate it," he said.
His office gets about 10,000 complaints each year.
King said, "There's some companies that sometimes have a gap in judgment, and that's our job, is to hold them accountable. We want them to honor the terms of the contract that they had with their customer. Nothing more, nothing less."
After Diez filed his complaint with the state, his insurance company reversed its decision.
"Really. It was like magic," Diez said. 'I mean, it was like clockwork. What the insurance company should have been doing from the very beginning, they finally decided to do after they got a phone call.'
Commissioner King is now asking the legislature to grant him more power to fine insurance companies who refuse to fix mistakes.
Right now, by law, his office can only fine those insurance companies a maximum of $5,000 per offense.
'$5,000 per incident, I think, is woefully inadequate,' he said.
If you need to file a complaint against an insurance company in Georgia, click here.
And click here if you need to file a complaint in Florida.
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