When you are shopping for health insurance it would be helpful to know how often health insurance companies fail to provide the service you would expect. The Arizona Department of Insurance has released a report listing fines and complaints filed against health insurance companies in the state.

The report covers 27 insurers or about 75% of the companies serving Arizona. Does the report reflect health insurance performance in other states? I can't be sure, but it does give us a peek into the workings of the health insurance industry.

United Healthcare of Arizona is one of the major insurers in the state and it had the highest number of complaints per insurance policy. Time Insurance and Mega Life And Health Insurance are smaller companies and they had even high complaint ratios.

In Arizona Humana Health Plan satisfies the appeals of its insured more than any other company. On the other hand the report shows that Mega resolves fewer appeals to the satisfaction of the insured.

When it comes to the number of fines levied in the past 5-years by the AZ Department of Insurance the Arizona arm of CGNA Healthcare garbs the top spot. They were assessed the most fines.

If you would like to read more about the performance of health insurance companies you can find the full report online if you do a search for "Report on AZ Health Insurers". Chances are the insurance department or commission in your state issues a similar report.

Another fact we can learn from this Arizona report is that your state's insurance regulatory body may be able to help you in a dispute with your insurance company. You can find state insurance regulators on the internet by doing a search for National Association of Insurance Commissioners. The NAIC has a map of the United States on their web page. Just click on your state and you'll find your state's insurance department information.

Before you buy any policy it would be sensible to learn just which health insurance companies fail to please consumers in your state.