Insurance complaints to Taiwan's Financial Ombudsman Institution (FOI) surged by 44% in the first quarter, with disputes over health coverage and claims of false sales information being the most common.
Consumers submitted 1,354 insurance complaints in the first three months of this year, with life insurance disputes making up 72% and property insurance disputes 25%, Taipei Times reported. General insurance complaints made up 25%, while the remaining 3% were not identified.
Most claims-related disputes were related to health insurance policies, with policyholders complaining that insurers refused coverage, denied claims for certain procedures or provided unsatisfactory compensation, the agency report said.
Sales agents giving false information regarding policy coverage, guaranteed interest rates or regulations on premium payments made up the majority of non-claims-related cases, it said.
According to Peng Jin-lung, chairman of National Chengchi University's department of risk management and insurance the increase in complaints could be partly due to increased awareness among consumers.
Consumers are now more willing to lodge complaints against insurance companies and know how to collect evidence when they feel that sales agents have lied to them, he said. However, due to the fluctuating number of disputes, more time is needed to observe if the trend will continue.
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