OPIC has been working hard for consumers this year, analyzing over 2,100 rules, rates, and policy forms. We are a small, 10-person agency, but we did big things in 2019, saving Texas consumers over $41 million. Here are some of our biggest achievements:
- Negotiated an agreement with the Texas Land Title Association (TLTA) over title rules and rates that resulted in consumer savings of $20 million.
- Saved Texas businesses $20 million by obtaining a reduction in industrywide loss costs filed with the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI).
- Saved consumers over $1 million by objecting to excessive auto and homeowners rates.
- Prevented reductions in coverage on residential property and auto policies by working with the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) and insurance companies throughout the year. More than 30 changes were made to protect consumers based solely on OPIC’s policy form reviews.
- Challenged the use of criminal background checks to improperly rate drivers for auto insurance. This resulted in multiple companies no longer using improper criminal histories to rate Texas drivers. OPIC continues to work with TDI and others to make sure criminal backgrounds unrelated to driving are not used in the Texas auto market.
- Objected to the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) rate increases in August and December. We raised issues related to TWIA’s use of hurricane modeling and excessive expense provisions. Ultimately TWIA did not raise rates in 2019.
- Created new website content, including: a residential property claims handling info page, pages for first-party and third-party auto claims, a flood insurance basics page, and a flood insurance shopping guide.
- Reached over 1.5 million Texans via our social media channels (Facebook and Twitter) and website.
- Produced the agency’s first Recommendations Report to the Texas Legislature. We suggested three legislative recommendations to help consumers. A version of our recommendation requiring a flood disclosure was passed by the Legislature.
- Updated the Auto and Homeowners Consumer Bills of Rights to an easier-to-use and plain language format, and submitted them to TDI for rule-making. They should be available to consumers in 2020.
- Redesigned OPIC’s annual HMO report cards to be more concise and consumer-friendly.
- Participated in the rule-making process for Senate Bill 1264 to help make notices to consumers about balance billing protections timely and in plain language.