ATLANTA — Georgia lawmakers want to lower insurance costs for families and make it easier to hold “bad actor” insurance companies accountable.
House Bill 1344, the Georgia Insurance Affordability and Claims Integrity Act, would strengthen the Commissioner of Insurance’s ability to enforce state laws by clarifying the rules for insurance and investigations related to it.
According to the bill, insurance companies that investigate insurance claims would not be required to have finished their investigation before sharing findings with the Georgia Office of the Commissioner of Insurance and Safety Fire.
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Typically when you get into a car accident, insurance companies work to determine who is at fault, or who is responsible and which insurance company has to pay for it.
Companies already have to report findings to OCI, but HB 1344 makes it so that information can be shared or requested even before the investigation by insurance companies is complete.
The bill also adds new funding avenues for the Georgia Special Insurance Fraud Fund, which pays for state insurance fraud investigations and provides funds to reimburse costs for assistant prosecuting attorneys handling these cases.
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Should HB 1344 pass, companies would have to pay $100 or $200 per year into the fund to help pay for investigations and prosecutions for insurance fraud.
The amount owed to the state yearly would differ, depending on the foreign status of the company in question. Foreign companies would pay $200.
According to members of the House Blue-Ribbon Study Committee on Insurance Rates, the bill would help to reduce the cost of insurance premiums for Georgians.
State Rep. Matt Reeves, HB 1344’s main sponsor, said the bill would increase more than 40 different insurance fines that are part of state law and would also add storm claims protections in the wake of Hurricane Helene.
At Legislative Session Day 25, Reeves spoke about the bill, and others, ahead of the floor vote.
“We’re increasing 40 insurance fines for insurance companies,” Reeves told his colleagues. “If they violate the law, if they violate policy provisions, they’re going to have consequences under this bill. It strengthens enforcement of uninsured motorist laws.”
Citing data from the Georgia Department of Driver Services, Reeves said there were 9.1 million Georgians on the road, but 20% of drivers, almost two million, are not insured. To address that, the bill adds higher penalties for uninsured drivers.
HB 1344 also includes provisions for preventing or combatting staged accidents used for insurance fraud. In a statement from House Speaker Jon Burns earlier in the session, HB 1344 would help OCI levy fines on “bad actors” while more strongly enforcing current laws for uninsured drivers.
Rep. Devan Seabaugh, one of the bill’s sponsors, said in a recent statement that the package of insurance reforms passed in the House were meant to improve conditions for Georgia families.
“Too many people have opened their insurance bills and wondered why their premiums keep going up, even when nothing has changed. These reforms will help us make sure all parties, but specifically insurance companies are held accountable, that consumers are treated fairly, and that if companies overcharge, that money goes back to the people it belongs to,” Seabuagh said. “At the end of the day, this is about fairness, transparency, and making sure the system works for all Georgians.”
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