The Boston Globe describes the feelers being put out by Insurance Commissioner Burnes about whether it’s time to consider again relaxing Massachusetts’ draconian auto insurance pricing regulation:
At a hearing today on whether the state is ready for auto insurance competition, Burnes didn’t indicate what she plans to do. But her questions of witnesses focused on whether she had the legal authority to introduce competition and what impact that would have.
“She is seriously, seriously considering moving to a competitive system,” said Deirdre Cummings, consumer education director at the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group, who opposes such a move at this time.[...]
If memory serves, recent commissioners in Massachusetts have been somewhat receptive to permit competitive pricing in auto insurance, but have also been very aware of the political minefield that must be crossed in such a change — that the folks currently being subsidized in the current system, urban risks and youthful operators, are rather politically active in the state.
I wonder if a compromise could be struck. For example, it would be interesting to see restrictions lifted on the pricing of “optional” auto insurance coverage (i.e. coverage beyond minimum limits liability), with an offset by using an alternative mechanism to provide “mandatory” insurance, e.g. pay-at-the-pump.
I’m not necessarily advocating pay-at-the-pump, mind you…but such a compromise would presumably appeal to the activists who have been most aggressively fighting against market freedom in the state.