Ranting to /dev/null

Progressive types will yell, but there's nothing wrong with this

Geico discriminates against poor people.

No, really, they do. They charge people without a high-school diploma significantly more than those with diplomas, bachelors, or advanced degrees. Up to 70% in some cases.

There isn't a single thing wrong with this. CLUE, the Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange (a service of ChoicePoint), keeps extraordinarily detailed records of all insurance claims filed against every company in the US. So if you file a huge claim against, say, State Farm, and then try to switch to a different company that won't know about your accident, it isn't going to work.

CLUE is intended to allow underwriters to determine exactly how much of a risk a given insured poses. They can sort by credit score, income level, occupation, and, as it turns out, level of education. It also turns out that people with high credit ratings, good jobs, and decent educations are better drivers, and thus pose less of a risk for the insurance company. They could screen for race and charge for that too, but it's illegal because of civil rights legislation, but they probably don't mind all that much, because any factors suggested by sorting by race will probably be accounted for by sorting for things like education and income.

Think about it: a person who pays their bills like clockwork is probably a pretty responsible person. A person who is responsible in paying their bills is more likely to be responsible when driving their car. On the other hand, a person who has numerous accounts past due obviously doesn't have control of their life, and if they take risks with money, they'll take risks when driving. Ergo, they cost the company more in the long run, and should have to pay for being risky.

By the way, it isn't nearly as blindly discriminatory as you might initially think. Oddly enough, doctors have the single worst loss history of any profession, and don't think insurance companies who screen for that kind of thing won't charge for it. Go figure.

Posted by ryan at March 1, 2006 07:05 AM | TrackBack