ROUGH ROAD: State Rep. David Morales has introduced one of the bills that would prohibit car insurers from using criteria such as ZIP codes, income, education levels and occupations to set premiums for policyholders. The measure has faced stiff opposition from the insurance industry. PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO
When state Rep. David Morales submitted legislation in February that would prohibit auto insurance companies from using any information other than driving records when calculating premium rates, he was prepared for an uphill battle. Similar legislation went nowhere last year. Within days of his submission this session, he heard skepticism from General Assembly members, even…
You must be a paid subscriber to read this content.
To keep reading and receive unlimited access subscribe today for only $1.
Subscribe NowAlready a Subscriber?
Login now
Want to share this story? Click Here to purchase a link that allows anyone to read it on any device whether or not they are a subscriber.
More factors are promoting what economist call price discrimination. Not in the negative sense of the word, but in the technical sense. Essentially, if all Rhode Island drivers have an aggerate risk valued at an amount that we can call X, instead of splitting that X the number of drivers N, they are saying they have some models that assign higher parts of X to certain drivers. Compare this to the way we price electricity where we all basically pay the same amount even though rural consumers cost demonstrably more to power. We love to use tools of price discrimination when Black and Brown people pay their “fair share”. They should be forced to have their models evaluated and approved by a public regulator.
Want to share this story? Click Here to purchase a link that allows anyone to read it on any device whether or not they are a subscriber.
More factors are promoting what economist call price discrimination. Not in the negative sense of the word, but in the technical sense. Essentially, if all Rhode Island drivers have an aggerate risk valued at an amount that we can call X, instead of splitting that X the number of drivers N, they are saying they have some models that assign higher parts of X to certain drivers. Compare this to the way we price electricity where we all basically pay the same amount even though rural consumers cost demonstrably more to power. We love to use tools of price discrimination when Black and Brown people pay their “fair share”. They should be forced to have their models evaluated and approved by a public regulator.