Board of Insurance Appeals Made Permanent

By Meghna Chakrabarti (The Third Rail)

The House yesterday approved 158-0 a bill establishing an auto insurance appeals board. If you're thinking, wait, didn't we already have one? The answer is, yes we did. In January, Insurance Commissioner Nonnie Burnes annouced plans to eliminate the Division of Insurance Board of Appeals on April 1st. Outrage followed. Burnes reversed course and left the board intact.

The House vote establishes the appeals board as a permanent entity under state law. Governor Deval Patrick has said he approves of the bill.

Burnes's original proposal called for the eliminating the independent board and replacing it with a system in which insurance companies themselves would hear driver appeals. But now, with the board lawfully preserved, aggrieved drivers can take their cases to the independent panel, which, on a side note, will likely continue hearing many cases for as long a Bay Staters continue to rank (according to GMAC) among the worst drivers in the nation.