Consumer Law

Daniel Schwarcz on Insurance Policy Transparency

By Jeff Sovern

Daniel Schwarcz of Minnesota has written The Need for Insurance Policy Transparency.  Here's the abstract:

This Article empirically debunks the common claim that homeowners insurance policies do not vary across different insurance carriers. It demonstrates that different carriers' homeowners policies differ radically with respect to numerous important coverage provisions. It also reports that a substantial majority of these deviations produce decreases in the amount of coverage, though some deviations increase coverage. Additionally, the Article reviews the shocking absence of any mechanisms by which even informed and vigilant consumers could comparison shop among carriers on the basis of differences in coverage. It closes by noting that state insurance regulators must act aggressively to remedy this lack of transparency in homeowners insurance markets and to study more broadly whether this problem extends to other personal lines of coverage.

Full post as published by CL&P Blog on October 08, 2010 (boomark / email).