Insurance Reform In The News

A Massachusetts consumer group and Attorney General Martha Coakley urged Insurance Commissioner Nonnie Burnes to incorporate more consumer protections and ban the use of credit scores in her proposed auto insurance deregulation plan at a public hearing. "We all like competition when it works," said Deirdre Cummings, legislative director for the consumer watchdog MassPIRG, "but we've seen enough failures to know that without proper safeguards, businesses will seek to add to their bottom line at the expense of the public and the consumer."

BOSTON— A former state insurance official yesterday called on the administration of Gov. Deval L. Patrick to scrap proposed regulations to lift state control of auto insurance rates, saying they do not provide enough protection for consumers.

BOSTON - A coalition of consumer groups wrote to Gov. Deval Patrick and his insurance commissioner, urging them to make sure the state’s move toward a more competitive auto insurance market doesn’t lead to the use of socioeconomic factors to deny consumers coverage or raise their rates.

A SOBERING report this week raises concerns that the Patrick administration's "managed competition" auto insurance plan could turn out to be a junker for perfectly good drivers considered poor risks in the eyes of insurers because they are young, unmarried or renters.

Consumers will soon be able to learn how much their insurance companies are paying top executives.

Attorney General Martha Coakley is urging the state's auto insurers to lower their 2008 rates, saying the companies were including more than $200 million in extra profits and payments to agents that would not have been allowed by regulators in previous years.

A coalition of groups involved in the healthcare debate will today unveil a new effort to rein in the pharmaceutical industry's marketing efforts, which they say contribute to the rising cost of medical care.