Read AA&B's March 2009 article on East Coast Coverage!
Connecticut Last year, Connecticut launched its C-MAP coastal market assistance program, administered by the state FAIR plan. C-MAP was created by insurance companies writing business in the state under authorization of the Connecticut DOI. However, soft market competition has made availability less of a problem in the state and C-MAP hasn't seen much activity, said Ellen Kiehl, senior research analyst, PIA of New York, Connecticut, New Hampshire and New Jersey.

Connecticut Insurance Commissioner Thomas R. Sullivan has a background with the Hartford (as senior vice president of its Specialty Risk Services LLC division) and is very consumer oriented.

Most recently, insurance trade groups including the American Insurance Assn. (AIA) and the Property Casualty Insurers Assn. of America (PCI) called on Connecticut's Insurance and Real Estate Committee to reject S.B. 763, which would allow a new private cause of action for unfair claim settlement practices without having to show a general business practice on the part of an insurer. AIA maintains that the state's current unfair insurance practices act already provides adequate consumer protection.