Redlining by Auto Insurers

The current mess in auto insurance in California has taken years to get into and may well take years to get out of--if ever. I would like to suggest a simple and easy way to clear the decks.

1. Let the state establish a state-operated insurance carrier, operated solely on insurance premiums with no tax revenue to be used to subsidize it.

2. Abolish all rate regulations on private insurance carriers. They will be constrained by competition with each other, and with the state insurance carrier to offer fair and competitive rates.

3. Abolish the current requirement that all drivers carry auto insurance. The history of this law, both here and elsewhere, is uniformly horrid.

I don’t promise that this will make insurance rates affordable (one more reason for No. 3), but if it doesn’t at least it will then be obvious that the problem is with the court system and excessive awards, not the insurance industry.

MICHAEL D. GROTKE

Lake Elsinore