By
Philadelphia
Market conduct is a job that "you cant do all by yourself," regulators were told by a consumer advocate.
Citing a laundry list of recent market conduct problems that ran the gamut from vanishing premiums and credit scoring to race-based premium issues, Birny Birnbaum, executive director with the Center for Economic Justice, Austin, Texas, said the sheer resources needed to effectively monitor market conduct suggests a need for collaboration.
"Recognize that you cant do it all yourself and see who can help," Birnbaum said during the summer meeting of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
Both consumer advocates and insurers can play a role, he added, citing the possible use of both self-critical reports put together by individual companies and the work of consumer groups in the fair housing area.
Several commissioners expressed support for having information more publicly available.
"The NAIC needs to take a hard stand in making information public," said Jim Bernstein, commissioner of the Minnesota Bureau of Insurance.
