NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–ACE Insurance Litigation Watch today reported that ACE American Insurance Co. (NYSE:ACE) recently paid $221,000 in administrative penalties to settle two disciplinary actions with the Texas Commissioner of Workers Compensation. The actions involved late payments of insurance claims as well as the denial of payment on pre-authorized claims.
ACE American Insurance Company is under the management of executive Brian E. Dowd. In addition to being traded on the New York Stock Exchange, ACE Limited was recently added to the S&P 500 index.
Texas officials charged that in 2008 and 2009, ACE American failed to meet mandatory payment deadlines on numerous Workers’ Compensation claims. The delays ranged from several days to as long as 273 days past the deadline without payment of valid claims. ACE American settled the two Texas disciplinary actions on Sept. 16 by paying a $147,000 penalty in one instance and $74,000 in the second.
In a pair of consent orders that focused primarily on payments to medical care providers, the commissioner found that ACE American’s insurance practices frequently violated state laws. In one example cited, ACE denied an insurance claim based on its stated opinion that the bill was for medically unnecessary treatment. In fact, ACE had pre-authorized the claim and delayed payment another four months after its initial denial.
ACE Insurance Litigation Watch has uncovered that unreasonably delayed payment of insurance claims appears to be a common thread in complaints brought against companies in the ACE Insurance Group. www.ACEinsurancewatch.com, the online repository for lawsuits and other complaints against ACE, is currently tracking more than 145 cases in Federal courts alone. Many of those lawsuits include claims of delayed payments very similar to the Workers Compensation practices that caught the attention of Texas regulators.
Visit www.ACEinsurancewatch.com for more information.
Contacts
Kekst and Company
Robert Siegfried, 212-521-4832
Robert-Siegfried@kekst.com