What Others are Saying about Competition in the Insurance Marketplace

"Through market conduct reviews, vigilant solvency surveillance, and general marketplace monitoring, the Department has ensured a stable, viable and competitive marketplace. The Current open competition environment works best for both Illinois consumers and insurers. The Department recommends that the legislature continue to support open competition and avoid making changes to the regulatory environment that would have an adverse effect on the marketplace."

­ Nat Shapo, Illinois Insurance Commissioner,
Annual Report to the Illinois General Assembly
on Insurance Cost Containment; 1999

"There are several roles for regulation to monitor insurer solvency (so that consumers will be paid when covered events occur,) to protect consumers from unscrupulous practices, and to help standardize forms for personal lines and to small businesses, (so that consumers can easily compare prices.) Eliminating rate-regulation would free up resources within insurance departments to pursue each of these functions more vigorously."

- Robert E. Litan, of AEI-Brookings Joint Center of Regulatory Studies,
in testimony before a subcommittee of the U.S. House of
Representatives Committee on Financial Services

"The state plays a crucial role in ensuring that providers are solvent; that they have adequate reserves; that they pay claims as promised; and that coverage is available in even the highest-risk areas. The heart of the debate over insurance regulation should focus on products and pricing. That's where the market does its magic in other deregulated industries, and where government intervention can make things worse."

- Politics gets in the way of real insurance reform,
Fort Worth Star Telegram, 11/03/02

"Illinois is the only state in the nation that does not formally regulate insurance rates for the voluntary automobile market. The Insurance Department does obtain rate manuals and monitors the insurance market by examining the level of competition and premium levels. By not actively regulating insurance rates, the department saves resources and can direct efforts to more productive areas, including solvency and market conduct regulation."

- Stephen P. D'Arcy, Insurance Price Deregulation:
The Illinois Experience, 2001

"Solvency regulation also appears to provide net benefit to insurance buyers and is another instance of an appropriate informational and bonding role for regulators. By providing information on insurer financial quality, regulators allow buyers to choose an insurer with low insolvency risk."

- J. David Cummins, Property-Liability Insurance
Price Deregulation: The Last Bastion, 2001