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Originally posted by Nerull: Insurance companies are now essentially the 800 gorilla politically in the United States. It's my job to try to collect payments from insurance companies at my hospital. Let me tell you, you pay more and more now and get less and less benefit. I can't tell you how many times I've had to bill a patient for $10,000 U.S. or more for medical bills because they have some plan that only pays a fixed amount per day in the hospital; they are probably paying more in premiums for the policy than they get in benefits. Sucks, but that's the way the insurance game is anymore.

Having been an actuarial analyst for BCBSTX, I know exactly what you mean. In the first 6 months of my tenure with BC, I helped do the research that led directly to many of the individual and small group health plans "enjoy" a drastic rate hike. Definitely a job that leaves a bad taste in your mouth, if you aren't careful (not to say that I wouldn't jump back into the field if a position becomes available).

Originally posted by Nerull: Car insurance is no different. I had mine jump from $89.00 a month (after years of driving under the same policy with no accidents or tickets) to $128.00 a month with no explanation whatsoever.

What many people don't realize is that when you obtain car insurance you are placed in a general group based on age, gender, occupation, city of residence, etc. which might contain 1,000,000 other drivers. If the experience--the history of claims being paid out--of that group goes up, then the premiums will also rise because of this. To make a long story short, your personal driving record really doesn't have a whole lot to do with your insurance rates...unless you get a speeding ticket or other moving violation, in which case you will be placed in a group suffering much higher premiums. Heaven forbid you are in an accident--some companies (like State Farm) will drop you, even if the accident is not your fault. [img]graemlins/saywhat.gif[/img]

Originally posted by Nerull: Then I did some research, and what I essentially found is that many of the car insurance companies are simply subsidiaries of larger companies that have more than just car insurance (home, auto, etc.). There was heavy flooding from storms on 2 of the past 5 years in Texas, so they took two steps: first, they raised rates on home policies while greatly reducing coverage and/or refusing to renew policies in "high risk areas"; and second, they passed the costs from paying for the flooding to their other divisions (i.e. raised the rates on auto, etc.).

Fun, isnt' it? [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Originally posted by Nerull: Needless to say I was pissed about that, but after years of working with insurance companies, I've realized that they hold most of the cards politically, and pretty much do whatever they want. And it always ends up being the little guy trying to protect his or her investment that ends up suffering. So don't feel too bad, pritchke; you are in good company with a large portion of this continent. It just sucks that it is that way, and I do feel your pain.

It is really bad here in Texas, especially since the Legislature decreed that every driver must carry at least liability insurance. This simple plan gives absolute governmental support to the auto insurance industry; that is to say, the insurance industry thrives in Texas because of mandated governmental subsidies. Great for companies like GAINSCO (they're in Fort Worth; I also worked for them as an analyst) but not so great for consumers.
However, to be fair to the insurance companies one must not discount other factors that contribute to rising premiums such as frivolous lawsuits, excessive awards from those lawsuits, and scams like the guys in cars who try to get into relatively minor accidents so they can collect insurance payouts.
Eventually competition and consumer frustration will drive the premium levels back down, but that day is probably 10 years away. *sigh*