Much of the current health care debate centers on the provision of private health insurance versus the public option. On one side of the debate are those who point to private enterprise as the fruit of entrepreneurial efforts and capitalism, which leads to greater operational efficiency and lower consumer prices. The other side sees a [...]

Read this editorial in the Fort Worth Star Telegram on how subsidizing coastal property harms inland property owners and depletes natural storm barriers and increases the states insurance costs more than just aligning prices with risk ….  see
http://www.star-telegram.com/242/story/1626714.html

The September 17, 2009 Best’s Insurance News reports that three state insurance commissions will provide direct conversations with the insurance industry in return for a $1,000 donation.

The front page of the Washington Post (8/17/2009) reports:
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that Obama “will be satisfied” if the private insurance market has “choice and competition.”
ACI wants increased choice and competition too; and so do consumers, according to recent survey data.  Consumers believe that increased competition would reduce prices.  But, [...]

Our Houston Chronicle essay discussed the negative effects of the Texas FAIR and TWIA programs on consumers

Consumers Support Insurance Regulatory Modernization
Survey Shows Consumers Want Choice and National Competition
Representatives Melissa Bean (D-IL) and Ed Royce (R-CA) have introduced the bipartisan National Insurance Consumer Protection Act (H.R. 1880) that would permit competition between state and interstate-chartered insurance companies. This ConsumerGram provides new survey results and finds strong consumer support for interstate insurance competition.
Household [...]

Six Months ago, I commented about the problems with the Economic Stimulus Package and how it would not provide any immediate benefit, be largely ineffective and create more long term costs than benefits.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics just released its latest employment situation report and showed that the economy lost nearly one-half million jobs [...]

On Tuesday, the American Consumer Institute and the Competitive Enterprise Institue Co-hosted a Hill Briefing on recent activity on Financial oversight.  With the new administration and the changing economic environment, an expert panel discussed why the case for a federal systemic regulator was stronger than ever.

This investigative report finds that the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) may be overcharging insurance companies who pass these costs along to consumers in the form of higher prices.  State laws require companies to electronically file financial and rate information with the NAIC, who set filing fees without state approval or review.  Effectively, states have given away their [...]