Keeping information confidential

Approved in July by Gov. Matt Blunt, HB 388 allows consumers to keep personal information that is involved in insurance complaints confidential from anyone outside the Missouri Department of Insurance and the insurance company the complaint is filed against. The public previously had access to the information.

Consumers who file complaints with the Department of Insurance can now choose to keep some or all of their personal information, as well as almost all details of the complaint, out of public view by checking a box on the complaint form. Information that can be withheld ranges from name and address to medical history to all details of the complaint except type of insurance, date filed and nature of complaint.

“It’s definitely a success for the consumers,” said Rep. Brian Yates, R-Lee’s Summit, the bill’s sponsor. “I don’t think it’s really anybody’s business … to have access to private consumer health information.”

Matt Barton, public information officer for the Missouri Department of Insurance, said 334 of the 377 consumers who filed complaints with the department in September chose to not release any information. That accounts for nearly 90 percent of the month’s complaints.

Barton said he doesn’t expect a surge of complaints from consumers who were previously afraid of making their personal information public.

“What we have to be careful of is that we don’t measure the success of this bill based upon the number of complaints,” Barton said. “The 90 percent speaks for itself, showing that this bill has been overdue.”

But there are some who are unhappy with the law.

Jean Maneke, a lawyer representing Missouri Press Association, said the law is a bad idea because it restricts reporters and consumer advocacy groups in their ability to research insurance complaints.

“It will hamper anybody who attempts to do a thorough study of claims to the Insurance Department,” Maneke said.

Barton said aggregate lists of complaints both by company and by type will continue to be available through the department.

Yates said a subpoena power is built into the language of HB 388, providing a safeguard that ensures access to private information when deemed necessary by a judge for use in civil lawsuits or other legal actions.

Terry Fortner, president of Fortner Insurance Services, 1519 E. Sunshine, said he doesn’t see the bill as pro-insurance company, another point of view expressed by the bill’s opponents.

“I think it’s a great deal because I think people are going to be more open,” Fortner said.

“They’re going hopefully to be more honest in their complaints and force insurance companies to go ahead and step forward and treat people fairly.”

Maneke said the MPA hasn’t ruled out lobbying for a change in the bill during the next legislative session, which starts in January.