Competition Works:
The Illinois Experience

Illinois' experience shows that insurance competition provides affordability and availability:

"Insurance regulators have a tri-fold responsibility to the insurance buying public. We must insure that insurance coverage is available, reasonably priced, and sold by reliable companies … open competition achieves those goals."
- Nat Shapo, Director of the Illinois Department of Insurance

"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."
- Illinois Department of Insurance, Annual Report to the Illinois General Assembly on Insurance Cost Containment, 1999

"Illinois and South Carolina are two good examples of states that use a common sense approach to regulation. In both cases, costs have gone down, more companies are writing insurance giving consumers more choices, and public officials are hearing fewer complaints. Because of population and traffic density, the presence of a large metropolis, and other factors affecting losses, Illinois would normally be expected to rank among the top 10 states for auto insurance costs. However, Illinois perennially ranks in the middle among states for auto insurance prices, and competition has been a key factor."
- "Collision Course: What Path for Auto Insurance in New Jersey?"
The Record (Bergen, New Jersey), July 1, 2001

"Illinois consumers have roughly twice the number of auto insurers to choose from than those in New Jersey … deregulation, by unleashing the forces of competition, helps drive out inefficiencies and leads to higher productivity and lower costs … The obvious policy implication: auto insurance - indeed all lines of insurance – should be governed by the market."
- Robert E. Litan, Vice President and Director, Economic Studies, Brookings Institution

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