Auto Insurance Appeals Board Here to Stay
April 2, 2009
The House voted unanimously today on a bill that will keep the state auto insurance appeals board in place into the forseeable future. The vote codified a board of appeals within the state’s auto insurance system.
Insurance Commissioner Nonnie Burnes had tried to abolish the board, stating that drivers could appeal their insurance company's at-fault determination right back to their insurance company. And if they didn't like the final outcome, they could just switch insurance carriers. Her cavalier attitude toward the appeals process caused outrage among consumers and led NAGE to wage a campaign against her proposal. Legislators were also unimpressed with her plan.
Rep. Paul Donato (D-Medford), a sponsor of the bill to maintain the board said, “When the commissioner made a determination that the board should be abolished, her main objective was that insurance was now competitive and if someone was in an accident, they could go to another company,” said Rep. Paul Donato (D-Medford), one of the bill’s sponsors. “What she neglected to say was that accident would follow you to insurer to insurer to insurer. This legislation will codify the board and make it so in the future that the board will be here for the protection of the consumers and the drivers of Massachusetts.”