In the If It Ain’t Broke department, the legislature is considering a bill to “reform” the state’s auto insurance laws. North Carolina has the lowest rates in the Southeast and the sixth lowest in the nation. So who would want to “fix” such a good thing?
Why, State Farm Insurance, of course. State Farm and a handful of other big insurers, including Geico, say North Carolina drivers don’t enjoy some discounts as big as drivers in other states. Why? Because North Carolina’s rates are already so low. The discounts will only get bigger if the rates get higher.
If you believe big insurance companies are putting the interests of consumers ahead of their own profits, then I’d like to sell you my share of Plymouth Rock.
You would think this bill would be a non-starter in the legislature. It will have the same impact as a tax on drivers, costing many people more money for insurance. So what’s driving it? Maybe it’s that $8,250 that State Farm has donated to Thom Tillis’ Senate Campaign. More likely, though, it’s the general philosophy of the Republican leaders that profits are more important than people.
When Republicans say they are keeping more money in people’s pockets, they really mean they are keeping more money in corporations’ and wealthy people’s bank accounts. The income tax cut they offered saves millionaires tens of thousands of dollars but the hundreds that it should save average families is offset by little fees and additional sales taxes, like the increased tax on electricity. Higher auto insurance would be just another cut.
The whole episode is an example in why the GOP’s Carolina Rising theme isn’t catching on. The unemployment rate may be falling but people aren’t feeling better about their situations yet. The new jobs pay less with fewer benefits. People are still climbing out of the debt they accrued during the decade preceding the financial collapse. The only people who are truly thriving are those who make their money in the stock market, not those earning wages. But the GOP is quite opposed to raising the minimum wage.
And while people aren’t feeling much better about their financial situations, the legislature is making cuts to education that are quite obvious to anyone who has children or grandchildren in public schools or universities. They are also making it tougher on the long-term unemployed and now they want to kick the blind, elderly and sick off of Medicaid. People who are still struggling in the uneven recovery are wondering what people like Dallas Woodhouse are celebrating.
The GOP would be wise to kill this insurance reform bill before it takes hold. Otherwise, they give Democrats some potent ammunition to say they side with wealthy corporations over North Carolina families. Everybody who drives has auto insurance and what’s a small increase for family making $150,000 is budget buster for one making $45,000, the state’s median income.
Thomas Mills is the founder and publisher of PoliticsNC.com. Before beginning PoliticsNC, Thomas spent twenty years as a political and public affairs consultant. Learn more >
If having governors is such a good idea, why is North Carolina’s the only one who’s a wimp and named McCrory?
If having popular tourist attractions is such a good idea, why don’t we have two Cape Hatteras lighthouses?
Sheesh…..
If the NC insurance rate bureau is such a good idea, why are we the only state that has one?
So, John. the NC insurance commissioner doesn’t know what he’s talking about? Really? Maybe you are the one blinded by politics and ill-informed? Try reading the hyperlinked article by him again, at: http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/06/05/3914208/wayne-goodwin-bill-would-raise.html
If a conservative is speaking, a conservative is lying.
You are blinded by your political view and void of facts in this article. This reform will reduce premiums for 85% of drivers in the state and raise premiums for those who have multiple tickets,accidents,and DUI’s. The good drivers and drivers who have one or two violations are paying more so that the really bad drivers don’t have to pay as much. That is backwards and every state in the country agrees but NC.
Baahahhahahahahahahahahahaah. Uh huh.
Just another change that the NCGOP says will help citizens, but only will really just help their political campaigns and big business. It’s amazing that such a large group of middle/lower income class folk in the state don’t understand that this sort of stuff is going on and taking money from their pockets! You’d have thought that extending sales taxes to food, entertainment and service contracts, and then adding on to the electricity tax under the new GOP tax reform would have gotten folks’ attention and maddened them. Or, for those who are really hurting financially, that losing the EITC, unemployment benefits, Medicaid eligibility, or not enjoying the benefits (and likely lower premiums) of an ACA health insurance exchange would spike their anger. But perhaps James is right; maybe we should let the GOP go hog wild with their greedy trickle-down actions until even the most out-of-touch voter can’t avoid getting exercised and energized against these regressive ways……
Let ’em pass it. Things aren’t going to get better until they get a lot worse. And unless people can clearly see the destructive impacts of GOP policies, they’ll continue to vote the wrong way. The GOP can’t overreach if we keep reining them in. I say we should give them all the rope they want, and then some.