Staff Reports
Insurance and Fire Safety Commissioner‑elect Keisha Sean Waites used an exclusive post‑election TV interview to lay out a bold first‑100‑day plan. Her headline promise: try to ban insurers from using credit scores and ZIP codes to set auto and homeowners premiums. That single idea has already set off alarm bells from industry experts and ordinary Georgians who pay the bills.
What Waites said she will do
In the WSB‑TV interview, Commissioner‑elect Keisha Sean Waites said plainly, “Those things have nothing to do with calculating your risk as it relates to your insurance premiums.” She listed three priorities for her first 100 days: (1) ban the use of credit scores and ZIP codes in pricing, (2) strengthen consumer tools to sue or recover money from insurers for alleged wrongdoing, and (3) streamline regulation to try to attract more carriers. Waites also noted her office can scrutinize, delay or reject rate filings — but it cannot simply freeze rates on its own.
Why this matters for Georgia drivers and homeowners
Credit‑based pricing and geographic risk adjustments are not just phrases for policy wonks. Actuaries and insurers use those factors because they are correlated with how often and how much people claim. Remove those levers and insurers still must collect enough money to cover losses. The practical effect is a shift in who pays: drivers with good credit and people in safer ZIP codes lose discounts while higher‑risk groups pay less. When a state tried a temporary ban before, a majority of drivers saw their premiums rise — not exactly the affordability miracle promised by policy briefs.
The legal and political hurdles are real
Don’t expect an overnight rule change. A commissioner can influence rate reviews and enforcement, but outlawing specific underwriting practices often requires new state law or formal rulemaking — which means working with the legislature. Georgia’s recent statewide results give Waites potential allies, but any serious ban on underwriting factors will draw fierce pushback from insurers and from actuaries who warn of market exits or price instability. If insurers decide the state is no longer a viable market, the result won’t be lower prices — it will be fewer choices and possibly higher costs for everyone left behind.
Bottom line: good headline, risky prescription
Keisha Sean Waites campaigned on consumer protection, and that sells. But promising to strip predictive tools from pricing without showing how insurers will cover the same losses is political theater with a price tag. Georgians who value competition, stable rates, and the discounts earned by safe behavior should watch closely and ask tough questions. If Washington‑style ban experiments are any guide, the “make insurance fairer” pitch can quickly turn into higher bills for the very people who thought they were getting a break — all while the politicians clap for having done something bold.
