The state Insurance Department will close its six-person consumer service office in Pittsburgh on Dec. 2.

The cost of moving the insurance office from the Pittsburgh State Office Building, which is being sold and converted for other purposes, could be several hundred thousand dollars, and the cost wasn't justified, said spokeswoman Rosanne Placey.

"We didn't get the walk-in traffic that we get in our Philadelphia office,'' she said. The Pittsburgh workers may relocate to the department's Harrisburg office.

A toll-free hotline number will remain for consumers with insurance problems, 1-877-881-6388. The Pittsburgh office number, 412-565-5020, will be transferred to the Harrisburg office, she said.

The state has about 77,000 workers, and Gov. Ed Rendell has said that a few hundred of them may be laid off due to spending reductions contained in the recently enacted 2009-10 state budget of $27.8 billion. The Insurance Department has less than 300 employees.

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