Prop. 103 and the ‘Insurance Mess’

Now that insurance rates have been reduced by vote, why not vote to reduce the price of homes, cars, pharmaceuticals, postage stamps, hospitalization, and plumbing? It’s such a neat and easy solution to our inflation problems.

Of course, voters are not blameless in the skyrocketing of insurance rates. Aggressive driving and auto congestion lead to high accident rates. Voters inflate their accident damage claims, encouraged by lawyers and some medical clinics. As jurors, they frequently award excessive verdicts for insurance companies to pay, which in turn leads to higher accident case settlements. Perhaps an honest recognition of these facts was one reason a large number of voters voted against Proposition 103.

Insurance companies have as much right as any other business enterprise to “protect their profits” and their solvency and seek the protection of the courts, regardless of Harvey Rosenfield’s (Proposition 103 campaign chairman) protests. And the efforts of Sheriff Robbins and his men to round up the insurance companies and keep them in the O.K. Corral does not seem in accord with free enterprise. The real culprit in this serial is the Legislature, which failed to enact equitable insurance reform.

JANE FORGOTSON

Los Angeles