insurance coverage

A federal judge has struck down a Missouri law that directly challenges the so-called contraceptive mandate under the federal health law.

Missouri's Insurance Department says it has recovered $7.7 million so far this year for consumers. The money comes from customers with complaints about their insurance companies or coverage.

The department said through September of this year, it has fielded more than 10,000 written inquiries and complaints – and more than 16,000 phone calls from customers.

Often complaints have to do with denial of claims and processing delays. Most of the problems reported have to do with health insurance, followed by auto and homeowner coverage.

In Missouri, an estimated 835,000 people don't have health insurance – that's about 14 percent of the state's population. But in the next couple of years, that figure is going to change. Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld most of the federal health care law, about half a million Missourians will join the rolls of the insured – either through Medicaid, the private insurance market, or with the help of subsidies provided by the federal government. The percentage of uninsured will drop to five percent of the population.