NASHVILLE, Tennessee, June 7 — The Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance issued the following news:
At the midpoint of 2022, the Tennessee Department of Commerce & Insurance (“TDCI”) is highlighting the robust health of Tennessee’s insurance industry as well as the work of the Department’s team to assist consumers and insurance professionals.
“During the past two years, Tennessee’s insurance industry has risen to face numerous challenges, and I am proud to say that our team has equally risen and remained steadfastly focused on serving, assisting, and regulating insurance companies and professionals while serving Tennessee policyholders,” said TDCI Commissioner Carter Lawrence. “As we enter the second half of 2022, Tennessee residents can trust that our team is hard at work serving consumers while fairly regulating insurance companies.”
Recent figures show Tennessee’s insurance industry is thriving.
* Tennessee has approximately 294,000 licensed insurance professionals. This is the largest number of licensed insurance professionals in Tennessee in nearly 40 years. Additionally, the current number of licensed professionals is a nearly 10% increase compared to the 259,320 licensed insurance professionals in 2021.
* The Department licensed 45 new insurance companies in 2021, bringing the total number of licensed insurance companies to 1,959.
* $51.5 billion in premium volume was written in Tennessee in 2021.
* $1.12 billion in premium taxes were collected in Fiscal Year 2021, a 7.5% increase from 2020.
* Tennessee’s climb as a domicile in the captive insurance industry continues as the state is ranked as the 8th largest domestic captive domicile and the 13th largest captive domicile worldwide with over 495 active risk-bearing entities.
TDCI regulates all types of insurance and encourages consumers to contact TDCI’s Consumer Insurance Services team with any insurance-related question or concern. So far in 2022, consumers have filed 1,467 complaints that have resulted in over $5.43 million being returned to consumers through the Department’s mediation and restitution efforts this year. The top three reasons for consumer complaints are denials, delays, and low settlement offers.
For the sake of comparison, over $8.2 million was returned to consumers in 2021.
“Our dedicated Consumer Insurance Services team is eager to assist Tennesseans who feel they have a claim that has been unjustly denied or who have a question about their insurance policies,” said TDCI Assistant Commissioner Bill Huddleston. “I want to thank our entire team for their hard work and diligence through the first six months of 2022. I know our team will continue to exceed expectations through the rest of this year.”
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Original text here: https://www.tn.gov/commerce/news/2022/6/6/tennessee-insurance-industry-boasts-robust-health–growth-at-midpoint-of-2022.html