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Insurance Battle Moves to State HouseBy Gintautas Dumcius - October 25, 2007
State House News Service
BOSTON - Foes of the Patrick administration's plan to introduce competition into the state's auto insurance market launched another volley of criticism Wednesday, this time with legislation attached.
Commissioner Nonnie Burnes, with the backing of Gov. Deval Patrick, is transitioning Massachusetts from a heavily regulated insurance rate-setting process to a "managed competition" model.
Lawmakers who have railed against the plan said Wednesday said legislation they were filing by the end the day will not undo competition. "What we do is provide some minor changes that we think are going to make proposed competition work for consumers," said Sen. Dianne Wilkerson, D-Boston, an ardent critic of Burnes' plan.
The bill will limit the commissioner, when considering auto insurance rates, to only consider driving records and to reinstitute the state attorney general's statutory authority to review insurance company rate filings and to intervene on behalf of motorists. Sponsors say they've already signed up 80 lawmakers in the 200-seat Legislature.
But proponents of the Burnes plan, being implemented through regulations, fired back, saying the bill would thwart competition before the new system has the chance to get started. "It would basically eviscerate the regulation," Burnes said. "We'd have to go back to the drawing board."
Burnes added, "What it would do is basically replicate the system we had before, but let the companies propose those rates. But it would be so rigid that we wouldn't get any of the benefits to the consumers."
James Harrington, executive director of the Massachusetts Insurance Federation, which supports Burnes' plan, called the bill a "desperate attempt to stop these reforms."
"I don't understand the need to file any piece of legislation at this juncture," he said.
At a press conference this morning on the State House steps, about 45 representatives from consumer advocacy groups such as MassPIRG and the Center for Insurance Research, insurance agents and lawmakers touted the bill, with Wilkerson saying she expected to see the bill through the Legislature before it takes its Thanksgiving break.
"Important things move overnight here," Wilkerson said. "We consider this one of those."
While supporters said about 30 senators and about 50 representatives had signed onto the bill, the legislation still faces a significant hurdle getting through the House. House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi and Rep. Ronald Mariano, D-Quincy, House chairman of the Financial Services Committee, support the Patrick administration's proposal. Only Reps. William Brownsberger, D-Belmont, Jeffrey Sanchez, D-Jamaica Plain, and Antonio Cabral, D-New Bedford, showed up at the press conference.
As insurance agents dispersed to lobby their respective lawmakers, Wilkerson quickly briefed them, saying, "We need to work on the House side."
Sen. Marc Pacheco, D-Taunton, who has criticized both the plan and the commissioner, accused Burnes of not listening to lawmakers and compared her to her predecessor in the Romney administration, which also attempted to bring managed competition to the market. "Not much has changed in that regard," he said.
On the Defensive
"I think that's not at all accurate," Burnes said, noting that she has been to the State House to testify on her regulations and her own division has held hearings. "We made changes in the proposed regulations before I made it final responding to concerns about insurance credit scoring. I not only was listening, but I heard. We happen to have a disagreement about which is the better way to structure this move, but it doesn't mean that I wasn't listening."
Defending her plan, Burnes said companies principally look at a driving record and, in her regulations, income is already barred. The regulations also deter insurers from using religion, occupation and age, with the exception of a discount allowed for those 65 and older, she said.
Keying off lawmakers' concerns that the Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) could be used in rate-setting, Burnes said only authorized individuals have access to that information. Group marketing plans would also get taken away under the lawmakers' bill, she said, affecting at least a million state drivers.
A key date is Nov. 19, proponents say, since that is when the big companies that write for 95 percent of the market are proposing rates. They hope to have the legislation nearly done by then.
"They really do have to make a political decision," Wilkerson, who met with Patrick earlier this week, said after the press conference on whether the administration should support the bill. "Our goal is not to shame the commissioner. Our goal is to get to a critical mass so they can't stop it." |
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