InsuranceJournal, January 30, 2008
Insurance Commissioner Nonnie Burnes has upheld the rate filing of Hanover Insurance, which proposed an overall rate decrease of 8.1 percent, rejecting Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley’s complaints that Hanover’s profit and commission provisions are too high and produced excessive rates.

InsuranceJournal.com, January 29, 2008
To help Massachusetts independent agents meet the challenge of preserving their market share in personal lines as the state embarks upon the managed competition system, the Massachusetts Association of Insurance Agents held a panel discussion at its annual convention which included Boston Software’s Charlie Walsh.

InsuranceJournal.com, January 28, 2008
The two largest auto insurance writers in Massachusetts have been given the green light to use the rates they filed for 2008 in rulings that characterize the state attorney general’s objections as “irrelevant” in the state’s new competitive marketplace.

Sometimes things do go right…even when developing new software! We’re pleased to report we’re in great shape in our big project to create WinRater Comparative Auto Rating Software for managed competition. We’re actually ahead of schedule. (Think the opposite of the Big Dig.)

We’ve already input 75% of the carriers’ manuals. We are testing them internally and working with carriers for clarification as necessary. It’s going very well.

The WinRater software itself looks great and all the functionality is testing well. Some lucky agents will start beta-testing WinRater with live rates in the next couple weeks. We’ll let them take the controls, put it “on the road” and see how she handles. We’ll quickly correct any errors/bugs that are uncovered.

We understand you need access to the rates as quickly as possible and so we plan to send you an “early-release“ version of WinRater in late February or beginning of March. This version will be fully functioning, but may lack a few features that we know you enjoy. We’ll follow up quickly with WinRater updates in the first couple months that will include various enhancements.

This continues to be an exhilarating and exhausting process. We’ve worked a lot of late nights fueled by gallons of coffee. But it’s good to see our staff’s hard work is paying off.

I attended MAIA’s seminar on the Managed Competition today in Tewksbury.  If you haven’t already signed up at attend, I recommend you do.

You’ll get a pretty solid overview of where the indistry is at.  This includes a virtual presentation by the CAR staff to outline the workflow for submitting risks to the MAIP pool.  In addition, Frank Mancini and Donna McKenna thoroughly explain the rate setting process and each carrier filing.  There was ample time for Q & A’s.

I’d recommend that you do a lot of reading, questioning, and listening on your own, but this seminar is definitely a good place to gather information about the pending changes.

InsuranceJournal.com, January 11, 2008
Massachusetts Insurance Commissioner Nonnie Burnes and Attorney General Martha Coakley are at odds over how best to regulate the state’s new competitive auto rates. Coakley believes that insurance companies are being stingy about their rate cuts; Burnes fears that Coakley will only end up delaying implementation and the consequent benefits to consumers.

Telegram.com, January 10, 2008
Two state regulators squared off yesterday over how auto insurers prepare their rates under the new managed competition structure. The tug-of-war between Insurance Commissioner Nonnie S. Burnes and Attorney General Martha Coakley played out at a hearing challenging the rate filing of Commerce Group Inc. of Webster, the state’s largest automobile insurer.

Boston.com, January 9, 2008
In a sharp rebuke to a fellow regulator, Insurance Commissioner Nonnie S. Burnes yesterday denied Attorney General Martha Coakley’s attempt to obtain rate-setting documents from Commerce Insurance of Webster, Massachusetts’ largest auto insurer.

There is a mix of complexity when you compare all the carrier rate filings for managed competition. The good news is that the majority are simple to moderate, but there are a couple carriers that made very complex filings.

Discounts that are common among many carriers include Good Student discounts, Advanced Driver Training, some creative Mileage discounts to increase the credit, Hybrid discounts, and Account Discounts. A bigger difference between carriers is the different ways they categorize risks and use factors accordingly.

We’ve more or less completed the data entry for 7 plans, including One Beacon, Plymouth Rock, Safety, and MAIP rates. But there will be a lot of work for most of the remaining plans. A couple of them are quite complex and it remains to be seen what effect the hearings with the DOI and Attorney General will have on these carrier filings.

All in all, we’re feeling pretty good about the rates and have a clear sense of what we need to do to complete the task at hand. We’re working long hours (nights and weekends!) to get all the rates in and tested, but we’re confident the new WinRater will be in beta-testing very shortly.

Did you catch Commissioner Burnes’ guest opinion piece in the South End News, dated 1/3/2008?  (www.southendnews.com)

She’s out spreading the word about managed competition, perhaps at the expense of agents.

I guess it shouldn’t come as a big surprise, but she ain’t really helping agents when she makes claims like this: 

“ …contact your insurance agent or insurance companies directly. Make sure they know you plan on making the most of managed competition by shopping your good driving record around to find the best possible rates and policy options.”

The PR has begun and, unfortuneately, you agents will be hearing it from all sides now.