Is there a ranking system for insurance companies?
Sunday, February 14th, 2010Anyone who follows music will know the Billboard charts show which singles and albums are selling the most. In other areas, there are ranking systems to tell you which goods or service providers perform the best. These are useful guides for both the newcomers and the experienced. They capture truth in an instant, like taking a photograph of the people who won the latest races or games. They won today, but who knows whether the same people will win tomorrow. When it comes to buying insurance, it would be useful to know which companies are ranked the best performers. In theory, they should give the best service, particularly during the claims process. But the first problem is the power of the individual US states. There’s no federal regulation for the insurance industry. It’s the responsibility of each state to decide which companies can sell policies in their jurisdiction. That immediately rules out a national ranking system. The largest insurance companies set up subsidiaries to sell in each states. Each is run separately to conform to local regulations. So how one subsidiary performs in one state is no guide to how different subsidiaries perform in other states. Worse, you cannot get round the problem by buying a policy across state borders. Put it all together and you can only rank the performance of the companies in the state where you live.
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