A bipartisan coalition of state lawmakers Thursday targeted rising consumer insurance premiums with a bill that would force insurers to disclose more details about how they set rates.
The bill also sets limits on how insurers can consider claims payments in other states when setting premium rates. The bill focuses on homeowners, auto and medical-malpractice insurance.
“Information is power, and we believe consumers will be able to make better decisions with more information,” said House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver, a sponsor of House Bill 1330.
Insurance industry representatives said the bill would force insurers to duplicate information they already provide to the state and would force some companies out of the market.
Plus, the pile of information that lawmakers are requesting would confuse, rather than help, consumers, said Kelly Campbell, regional manager for the Property and Casualty Insurers Association of America.
The bill would require insurers to provide a report “at reasonable cost” to any person requesting the information. That data would include the number of new claims, amounts paid on claims and information on the historical accuracy of the insurer’s loss projections.
While the request made insurance company representatives squeal, lawmakers said it’s necessary.
“What we’re trying to do here is to find out whether the cost that’s passed on to consumers is actually the cost incurred by insurance companies,” said Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, D- Jefferson County. “This has become too big an item in families’ budgets and too big an item for the state of Colorado.”
Insurance costs have been rising too fast to ignore, lawmakers said.
House Bill 1330 did something that few other measures at the Capitol have done this year: Unite four lawmakers as politically and temperamentally diverse as Fitz-Gerald, Sen. Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield, Romanoff and House Minority Leader Joe Stengel, R-Littleton.
The foursome touted the bill in a news conference at the statehouse and launched it on a fast track for debate. The bill is expected to be debated in the House Business Affairs Committee and could be heard by the full House today.
Staff writer Mark P. Couch can be reached at 303-820-1794 or mcouch@denverpost.com.
