Pennsylvania Takes on Consumer Rights

A resolution has been introduced in the State of Pennsylvania requesting the commissioner of insurance to investigate steering. I cannot understand why, when we all know that steering does not exist (ha!). Pennsylvania is the latest state to have the initiative to take action in the name of protecting consumers’ rights. To my knowledge, many states have “right to choose” laws. But actions taken by third-party administrators have proven time and again that they are loosely enforced or not at all. You do not have to look very far to see that many states across the nation are making the effort in this regard, consumer protection. This resolution proposed in Pennsylvania is just the latest.

Before I proceed, let me ask each and every one of you. Is the Pennsylvania Senator who introduced the resolution a whiner? According to the glassBYTEs.com article, the resolution includes words like coerce and the phrase “otherwise attempting to aggressively direct their insureds.” That’s pretty powerful stuff. Therefore, do you think it is the senator’s intention to protect the consumer and their right to choose or is his motive to protect the service providers? “Whiners.” That is the label that many of you have given to many of your fellow glass shop owners that are sounding off against the third-party administrators. This Senator is taking action because he knows, like all of us, that motor vehicle owners are being “coerced.”

The glassBYTEs article does not indicate whether this is true, but I would be willing to bet that this Senator either is acting out of personal frustration, or he knows someone who has encountered an experience with either a TPA or an insurer directly. I can tell you from personal experience that I watched as a member of the New York State Assembly called in a glass claim with one of the dominant TPAs in the industry. After he hung up the phone, he asked, “is this what a person must go through to get their windshield replaced?”

And now for the consumer. Ah yes, the consumer. It is the consumer that is the forgotten orphan in the entire process. It is the consumer, our customer, who has chosen our glass shop to have his or her car serviced, only to be harassed when he or she calls in the claim. It is the consumer who has purchased a product, insurance, only to learn when he or she goes to use it, discovers that they are not getting what they paid for. It is the consumer who chooses his or her service provider, only to be “coerced” to think that he or she has an obligation to use someone else. I don’t know about you, but I for one believe that involving the consumer, whom this is really all about, may be the catalyst in turning this industry around.