Insurance is heavily regulated. Bananas aren’t regulated at all. Which industry’s prices do you prefer?
The Dallas Morning News trumpeted a Bill White proposal for more government regulation of the homeowner’s insurance industry, claiming insurance companies should need government permission to raise rates.
The best defense against high prices is a free market in which providers compete for business by lowering prices. In heavily regulated industries the government has the power to protect the big players, stifling efficient newcomers. Big business and government officials hold hands behind political demands for more regulation, even though politicians often demonize big business in the process. Big business tolerates the bad publicity so long as the government achieves more power to protect them from competition. For example, in his push to sell us ObamaCare, Obama demonized some of his biggest contributors: insurance companies. Don’t worry, they didn’t mind.
The DMN article refers to the current state of Texas homeowners insurance as “wild west”. In reality it’s heavily regulated or it would be much cheaper. This is a replay of the liberal health care playbook: point to ballooning costs caused by over-regulation, pretend a lack of regulation is to blame, and propose greater controls.
Texans don’t need Bill White’s fake solutions or the Dallas Morning News’s fake neutrality.
