Insurance Industry

Insurance industry officials said yesterday they are confident that if the General Assembly follows the advice of a gubernatorial task force, Baltimore drivers soon will be paying substantially less for car insurance.Among the recommendations of the 17-member commission: Reduce certain types of mandatory coverage, ban the so-called "runners" who try to hook up accident victims with lawyers, prohibit lawyers from mailing solicitations to accident victims for 30 days after a crash, and deny victims multiple recoveries for the same injury.

State Insurance Commissioner Alfred W. Redmer Jr., who came to office with a mandate to increase competition in Maryland's insurance industry, has resigned his post to head a Delaware health maintenance organization. The former Republican delegate and insurance broker from Perry Hall was admired by industry officials, but his two years in office were marked by several disputes. He eventually won over those who criticized his response to complaints stemming from Tropical Storm Isabel, but he was rebuked by Democrats for his political activity and for his decision to let HMOs pass along a tax increase to their customers.

At critical times in American history, the public has turned to great leaders for wisdom: Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt -- and now, in 1994, Harry and Louise.Sure, they're just characters in TV commercials that attack the White House health reform plan. But Harry and Louise are having more influence with some Americans than Bill and Hillary, the real-life couple who wrote the plan.Which makes the Clintons awfully mad. They'd rather feed Socks to a pit bull than see their 1,342-page reform bill, thicker than the Washington phone book, being cut down in the polls by the health insurance industry, which is running the commercials.

WASHINGTON -- The state of Maryland, other states and private companies got the Supreme Court's permission yesterday to go ahead with an enormous lawsuit against the insurance industry, an antitrust claim that threatens to reach overseas, even to Lloyd's of London.The court ruled unanimously that American insurance companies are not immune to the legal challenge, and decided by a separate 5-4 vote that British insurers were not exempt from the claim, even though they operate entirely in the heavily regulated Lloyd's market in London.

Legislation to tighten state control of Maryland's title insurance industry and bar from the business those who have mishandled clients' money is headed to the governor after clearing the General Assembly.The new legislation would require all lawyers selling title insurance to obtain state licenses and officers and directors of all title insurance companies to provide more information about their backgrounds to the state.Under the legislation, the state could deny a license to anyone it deems not trustworthy to handle title insurance funds.

A lot of people are concerned about the insurance industry, and many analysts expect its troubles to worsen. Insolvencies are on the rise.Which companies will be next?That's hard to say, since many analysts may not know how to interpret the industry's financial statements properly.Irving Kellogg of Los Angeles-based Kellogg Associates, a CPA and one of the most perceptive readers of corporate reports, specializes in uncovering hidden dirt in balance sheets and income statements. He thinks that the insurance industry, because of the complexities of its accounting methods, is "wide open to abuse and fraud."

Washington -- Here's the headline many congressmen up for election this November would like homeowners and buyers to read this week: "House passes tough anti-redlining home insurance legislation. Minority and low-income consumers to gain new fair housing protections."But here's the real headline: "House passes toothless bill" that will do virtually nothing to curb central city redlining in home insurance policy availability, pricing or coverage.By a voice vote July 20, the House defeated a bill approved by its banking committee that had the strong support of consumer, civil rights, and housing groups concerned about discriminatory home insurance practices in urban markets around the country.

The rates Baltimore-area drivers pay for the same six-month car insurance policy vary by as much as $764, the second-highest figure in the nation, according to a survey commissioned by one of the state's largest car insurance providers.And even though some experts said those numbers are overstated, the survey points out the need to do comparison shopping when looking for auto insurance, said Progressive Auto Insurance, which released the findings yesterday.Nationally, six-month rates varied an average of $481.

IN YOUR DEC. 25 editorial on car insurance, you advise your readers that it was the doctors and lawyers who thwarted the governor's auto insurance plan this year.In fact, the Maryland Trial Lawyers Association was in favor of certain anti-fraud provisions of the governor's plan.The governor's plan also included a provision that would have required the automobile insurance carriers to reduce their rates if his plan was enacted.It is my understanding that the automobile insurance carriers would not support the governor's plan if it contained a mandatory rollback of rates.

YOUR DESCRIPTION of no-fault insurance (Dec. 23, "Why car insurance is so high") has left untarnished your paper's reputation for spewing forth insurance industry propaganda and promises without the benefit of truth or fact.The jury of the free market has long since returned a verdict on no-fault insurance. No-fault insurance schemes do not reduce automobile insurance premiums; never have and never will. It is not hard to figure out why.Fundamentally, no-fault means everyone in an auto collision recovers something, even if you are a guilty driver.