Consumers filed the most formal complaints in 2008 over insurance delays, denials of claims and unsatisfactory settlement offers, according to data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

Premium/insurance rating and policy cancellation issues were the other issues making the annual top five in the report, which is culled from data collected through its centralized electronic Complaint Database System.

Those top-five issues encompass about 60% of the 195,669 confirmed consumer complaints about insurance companies reported to the CDS in the 2008 calendar year. This information is based on the submission of data to the NAIC from the state insurance departments.

Based on that data, the total number of complaints for delays was 26,844 or 19.1%; for denial of claims, 28,851 or 18.4%; for unsatisfactory settlement offer, 20,021 or 14.2%; for premium and rating issues, 6,644 or 4.7%; and for cancellations, 5,618 or 4%.

Consistent with the last three years, complaints about accident and health insurers (36.9%) slightly outpaced those involving auto insurers (36.7%).

Both led life and annuity insurers (9.5%), homeowners insurers (11.8%) and fire/allied lines/ commercial multi-peril insurers (1.9%) by a significant margin, the data showed.