James David Cain’s Five Point Plan to Bring Integrity, Efficiency & Accountability to the Louisiana Department of Insurance

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The overall goal of the plan is to make insurance in Louisiana affordable and accessible.  To that end, the Louisiana Department of Insurance must be operated efficiently and honestly and should be restructured to include the following:

1. Insurance Inspector General

   Mission - The mission of the Insurance Inspector General is to ensure that the Louisiana Department of Insurance is operated in a manner that maintains the highest standards of integrity and accountability.

   Duties - The Insurance Inspector General will examine, investigate, and make recommendations with respect to the prevention of waste, inefficiencies, mismanagement, abuse and fraud in the department.  The Inspector General will make routine inspections of all offices to prevent such activities. The Inspector General shall report wasteful spending, mismanagement and inefficiencies to the Commissioner of Insurance.  The Inspector General shall report the abuse of state property, pay roll fraud and corruption to the Commissioner, the Legislative Auditor, and appropriate state or federal law enforcement agency.
    
   Position - Initially, the appointment will be made as a staff position within the Commissioner's office.  However, this job is so fundamental to the operation of any department that it should be a cabinet level position with the rank of deputy commissioner.  Legislation would be required to elevate this position to the level of a Deputy Commissioner.

2. Complaint Resolution Officer

   Mission – The mission of the Complaint Resolution Officer would be to provide an independent mediator to seek to resolve problems between insurance companies, insurance agents/producers, etc. who are having difficulty doing business with Department of Insurance employees

   Duties - The Complaint Resolution Officer will be designated to mediate disagreements of regulatory enforcement or processing delays between the department employees and companies or agents in order to expedite the approval of new insurance products in Louisiana. Likewise, insurance agents and producers who are having to wait lengthy, unnecessary amounts of time to get licensing should have this resource of a complaint resolution officer to work out difficulties in a quick and judicious manner. The officer will not have the authority to make binding decisions but simply will serve as a facilitator between the department and the companies or agents to resolve business issues.

   Position - The Complaint Resolution Officer should be a retired judge or someone with insurance and mediation experience who will be contracted to serve on an as needed basis.  The Complaint Resolution Officer will take an oath not to accept anything of value, meals or trips from anyone whom the department regulates since the officer may be called on to resolve a dispute with the department.

3. Insurance Consumer Protection Advocate

   Mission – The mission of the Insurance Consumer Protection Advocate will be to investigate consumer complaints and the monitor the enforcement of consumer insurance laws.

   Duties – The Insurance Consumer Protection Advocate will investigate consumer complaints and the enforcement of consumer insurance laws.  The Insurance Consumer Protection Advocate will be responsible for conducting "town hall" meetings in various parts of the state to assist consumers with insurance issues.

   Position - Initially, the appointment will be made as a staff position but this job is also so fundamentally important that it should be a "cabinet level" position.  The Legislature will need to enact law to elevate this position to the level of a Deputy Commissioner.  There should be one person who the insurance policy holders of this state can look to for help in resolving their complaints.  While the department currently has a complaints hot line, no one is listed on the organizational chart of the department whose job is solely to be accountable to the consumers and policy holders of this state.

4. Consumer Advisory Board

   A board of twelve ordinary citizens of this state who are policy holders to meet quarterly and to advise the Consumer Protection Advocate and the Commissioner of issues important to policy holders will be created and appointed to suggest ways to improve the department's responsiveness to the insurance consumer.  Such a board will serve as a constant reminder that the Louisiana Department of Insurance is here to serve, not only the large insurance companies who are needed desperately to write insurance in Louisiana, but also the consumers of those products.

5. Dedicated Insurance Fraud Toll Free Hotline

   The Insurance Fraud Toll Free Hotline would be widely promoted with public service announcements on television and radio. The department currently has on its internet web site an electronic form on which to report insurance fraud; however, there is no dedicated telephone line on which to report insurance fraud.  Many citizens do not have access to the internet while others prefer anonymity and do not want to disclose their e-mail address.  This dedicated phone line would be answered only in the Office of the Inspector General by, either the Inspector General or a law enforcement officer with expertise in insurance fraud.