Community Education

If you are against higher insurance rates you should contact your legislator now and tell him or her to oppose Senate Bill 901 and House Bill 1430.

You can find and contact your representatives by clicking here. Simply put the county in which you live in the County box. You need to contact your representative TODAY!

The insurance lobby has introduced bills in the state house and senate that if passed will result in higher auto and homeowner insurance rates and higher workers’ compensation rates.  It is bad for consumers and every business in North Carolina except the big insurance companies, mostly out of state, which would profit enormously from higher insurance premiums.

The bills are bad for consumers and all businesses except the insurance industry.  They seek to "fix" a system which is not broken.  In short, the bills create a procedure under which the Commissioner of Insurance is stripped of control over premium rates in several different lines of insurance, including automobile, homeowners and workers’ compensation.  In so doing, it would damage the interests of virtually every individual and business in North Carolina, outside the insurance industry.  Of course, few of the carriers that would benefit from a “premium bonanza” are based in North Carolina.  We do not believe that there is a need to send money from here to Connecticut and Massachusetts.  North Carolina’s Insurance Commissioner has historically protected our economy by approving reasonable rates and resisting those that are unreasonable.  The office should be allowed to continue to serve that valuable function.  The Insurance Commissioner is why North Carolina consistently has some of the lowest auto insurance rates in the United States and why it is ranked as one of the most business friendly states as well. 

Here is a link to the Insurance Commissioner's website  http://www.ncdoi.com/901.asp  which has the WRAL-TV clip and the Raleigh News & Observer editorial as well as several other helpful links.  It’s not often that one can argue a position where business and citizens have similar interests – but this one qualifies.  These bills are insurance industry bills that strip the Insurance Commissioner Jim Long of his power and authority to set insurance rates.  Over the years Commissioner Long has done an excellent job balancing the interests between the insurance industry’s repeated applications to raise rates against the interests of the consumers and businesses who purchase the product.  Across the board, NC has some of the lowest rates in the US. Without Commissioner Long in place to balance the interests – giving rates where justified and denying them when there is not justification, the rates go up and the citizens and businesses of NC will end up paying more for less coverage .

It appears that the rate setting powers will be stripped for all kinds of insurance – auto and workers’ compensation and homeowners’ policies.  Based on increased premiums, consumers (individuals and businesses) will chose lower, minimum or skip coverage all together.  In the workers' compensation field, higher premiums put more pressure on small business.  In turn business and industry will try and recoup costs from injured workers by lowering benefits.  In the case of auto insurance, the Rate Bureau's most recent rate filing indicates more than 7% of drivers in North Carolina already have NO insurance on their vehicles. These bills are likely to significantly increase the number of uninsured on the roads. 

When insurance coverage decreases, the social cost of the injury to consumers shifts to the tax payers who end up picking up the tab through social insurance programs.  HB 1430 torpedoes the historical balancing of interests between insurance purchasers (consumers) and insurance sellers (industry) exercised by Insurance Commissioner Jim Long which has effectively stabilized rates in NC as a result of this measured approach.  No one constituency is ever completely satisfied as good public policy balances the interests of all citizens and this is how it should be. This deregulation frees the insurance industry to increase rates to increase their profits at the expense of a huge group of consumers including auto and homeowners and businesses alike.   The only industry which comes out ahead is the insurance industry and it seems like they already have a very favorable balance sheet.  We urge you to oppose these bills - they are good for the insurance industry but bad for all other businesses and citizens of NC.

Contact your representative today and tell him / her to vote NO to Senate Bill 901 and House Bill 1430.

Thanks,

Doug and Celeste

Please feel free to forward this information on to your friends, relatives, neighbors or anyone you feel may be interested in this important issue.