JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Governor Jay Nixon vetoed a slew of bills Friday afternoon, including HB 1022, a bill designed to codify an existing policy that gives refunds to insureds.
In his veto statement, Nixon vetoed the bill because he argued it could allow insurance companies to obfuscate certain details of insurance programs to their consumers.
“Incredulously, the law would impose no requirement on an insurance company to provide notice of program details to its insureds,” Nixon stated.
Rep. Don Gosen, (R – Ballwin), the sponsor of the bill, fears the Governor’s veto could be interpreted as a negative indictment of a program that has given back $25 million to Missouri insurance consumers.
“What HB 1022 did was codify… a current practice members of the industry use.,” Gosen said. “I would hope that these companies can continue using this, but if the governor thinks this practice is not legal or not appropriate, then he could take it away.”
Gosen intended for his legislation to allow insurance companies to give back a portion of their savings to their insureds if the insured does not make a claim on their policy, what he called a return of premium over a rebate. Some insurance around the state already carry out this policy, and Gosen simply wanted to codify the practice. He added that the Governor was not totally wrong in his line of thinking, but argued that a) no one had ever complained about such a policy existing or being unclear and b) that the department of insurance could continue to monitor this practice.
“I would like to see a veto override on this,” Gosen added. “This was simply another case where certain industry people determined this could be a fourth exception to the rebating statute where these companies are saving money because of claim activity and operation cost and giving money back after the fact.”
