MP calls for review of insurance claming process

Accra, Dec. 8, GNA- Mr. Stephen Amoanor Kwao, Member of Parliament for Manya Krobo, has called on the National Insurance Commission (NIC) to take steps to review the current process of the Motor Insurance Claim to reflect present conditions.

Making a statement on the floor of the House, Mr Kwao said Insurance companies should also take steps to redesign their forms and procedures, network their activities and decentralize payment of claims. "There should be a strong regulatory focus on ensuring the capital adequacy of insurance companies... The NIC should intensify monitoring of the activities

of the insurance companies and quickly deal with issues of fraud and cheating when they are brought before them," Mr Kwao said. He said for the insurance to effectively play its role in national economic development, there must be a wide insurance product choice, constant service and pricing innovation, adding that it was important that the industry operated in an environment where companies remained financially strong and innovations openly encouraged. The Member said insurance companies should have the freedom to manage their businesses in the way they believed to be most effective, subject to remaining within the law and acting in the policy holder's interest.

Mr. Kwao enumerated some of the problems of the industry as the tendency of some claimants to falsify information, while processing the papers of the policy.

Claimants also do not read their policy well to fully comprehend the terms involved in the contract.

Another problem encountered while processing insurance claims is when the policy involves a third party, and in the circumstance where claimants are asked to produce police reports, the process of claims becomes more complicated since it takes the police some time to submit final reports, which the insurance companies insist upon before settling claims.

Mr Kwao advocated consistency, transparency and stability in the industry, and added that regulations and rulings must be clear and easy to understand.

Meanwhile the House approved, by consensus, the nomination of Mr. Osei Assibey Antwi, the President's nominee for the position of Deputy Ashanti Regional Minister.