Consumer Groups Demand Action on Auto Insurance Affordability Research Languishing for Five Years
Insurance Commissioners must resist industry pressure and pass a long-overdue proposal to collect data from insurance companies about how sales, premiums, and coverage vary from community to community around the country, consumer groups said in a letter to Commissioners earlier this week.
The data call was developed by a
"After more than five years of discussion, state insurance regulators -- the agencies responsible for ensuring fair treatment of auto insurance consumers -- are at the point of decision to collect data from insurers necessary to analyze availability and affordability of auto insurance -- what insurers are selling in what communities at what prices," said
Auto insurance is a required purchase for drivers in every state except
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The purpose of the data collection, according to the consumer groups, is to identify what policies insurers are offering at what price to which consumers, if rates are developed in a consistent manner, and, of particular import, whether specific groups of consumers face availability or affordability problems. Research by
Wary of having discriminatory pricing and sales practices further revealed, insurance companies have been lobbying the NAIC to water down the research effort. Specifically, insurers want to have the data collected by an industry-controlled third party and only provided to regulators in aggregate. The consumer groups warned that bending to industry demands would undermine the important research since the industry proposed changes would dramatically diminish the utility of the data set.
Insurance companies and their statistical agents, which aggregate data for the industry, are "seeking to obstruct the examination of affordability and availability issues," the groups wrote. On the other hand, the stronger proposal that is set for a vote this weekend "will allow for unbiased analysis of availability and affordability issues."
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