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THE VOICE OF TEXAS INSURANCE RE C O R D INSURANCE

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Special Focus: AUTOMOBILE AND TRANSPORTATION RISKS – Page 8

Some Linen Shouldn’t Be Aired in Public —

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AUSTIN—The Texas Department of Insurance has initiated a new policy of publicizing insurer rate proposals. The maiden voyage of this brave new way of doing things was launched with State Farm Insurance as the guinea pig ( Cav-ia porcellus).

State Farm sued TDI in an attempt to shield from disclosure certain critical proprietary reinsurance information that the insurer feared would be “invaluable” to its rivals in the insurance trade.

Timing as Trigger The legal action followed TDI’s decision to post on its Web site two State Farm rate proposals (filed eight months apart)

that increase homeowner premiums an average of 13% for the company’s 1.2 million Texas customers. Some Dallas-area homeowners will be paying 19% more for coverage because of recent damaging wind and hail storms.

Department spokesman Jerry Hagins said that the decision to put State Farm’s rate filings online is partly the result of the company’s filing of increases “so close together” — something state regulators warned could cause instability in the HO market.

Sources inside the Department told The Insurance Record on March 31 that they would e-publish the undisputed in- continued on page 21

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In This Issue

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TUCSON—The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) is suing to overturn the newly enacted health care law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). AAPS sued in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (AAPS v. Sebelius et al.).

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Special Focus: Automobile and Transportation Risks 8

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“If the PPACA goes unchallenged, then it spells the end of freedom in medicine as we know it,” observed Jane Orient, M.D., the executive director of AAPS. “Courts should not allow this massive intrusion into the practice of medicine and the rights of patients. There will be a dire shortage of physicians if the PPACA becomes effective and is not overturned by the courts.”

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Get THE INSURANCE RECORD digital edition — online — every other ; ursday. Send your customer number (found on your mailing label) and your email address to: digital@spcpub.com to start receiving your online edition every issue. You’ll still receive your printed edition in the mail.