For the eighth year in a row, the R Street Institute has compiled its Insurance Regulation Report Card, an examination of how states regulate the business of insurance.
In the new 2019 report, R.J. Lehmann, senior fellow and director of finance, insurance, and trade at R Street, addressed three questions: How free are consumers to choose the insurance products they want? How free are insurers to provide the insurance products consumers want? How effectively are states discharging their duties to monitor insurer solvency and foster competitive, private insurance markets?
R Street said that, for the sixth straight year, Vermont had the best insurance regulatory environment in the United States. R Street added that, for the second year in a row, Louisiana had the worst score in the country, "edging out second-to-worst New York."
It added that biggest improvements were seen in Florida (from a B to an A-), Montana (from a D to a C-), and New Mexico (from a B- to a B+).
The biggest declines were seen in Colorado (from a C to a D+), Maine (from an A- to a B), and Oregon (from a B to a C+), according to the R Street report.
The author of the report added, "In 2019, we saw progress toward more competitive insurance markets. Residual property insurance mechanisms continued to shrink. Florida enacted landmark reform of its assignment-of-benefits system and Michigan finally ended its mandate that all personal injury protection policies must provide unlimited lifetime medical benefits, which had driven out-of-control costs for decades."
Learn more: www.rstreet.org.
Victoria Spears
Victoria Prussen Spears is senior vice president of Meyerowitz Communications Inc., a law firm marketing communications consulting company. A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and Brooklyn Law School, Ms. Spears was an attorney at a leading New York City law firm before joining Meyerowitz Communications. She may be contacted at [email protected].