2 Insurers Cut Rates on Some Coverage; Autos Not Included

Two insurance companies, Safeco and Aetna Life & Casualty, said Tuesday that they are voluntarily rolling back their premium rates in accord with Proposition 103 on certain commercial policies representing a small percentage of their total California business.

Checks with these and other major insurers found no company, however, that had plans to roll back any private automobile or homeowner premiums. All spokesmen said their companies had applied to Insurance Commissioner Roxani Gillespie for exemptions from rollbacks on these policies, which constitute the lion’s share of their business in the state.

Aetna spokesman Jason Wright said Aetna will roll back rates 20% from 1987 levels, as called for in the initiative, on commercial policies relating to crime coverage, farmers and ranchers and inland marine (boats), and 8.8% on policies covering commercial condominium owners. Total premiums affected would be less than $50 million of Aetna’s 1988 sales of $660 million in the state, he said.

Safeco Rollbacks

Safeco spokesman Bill Pierron said that company will give 20% rollbacks from 1987 levels for malpractice policies for dentists and emergency medical technicians. These constitute about $13 million of Safeco’s $409 million annual sales in all lines of insurance.

A third company, the Automobile Club of Southern California, said it will roll back premiums on small boats, constituting $4 million of the $770 million in total premiums it writes.

The state Supreme Court in its May decision upholding Proposition 103 rollbacks said insurers could be exempted from them by the insurance commissioner if they could demonstrate that after giving them, they would not be receiving a fair rate of return on their business.