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Jay Angoff, the SEC and The Times They Are A Changin?

By Joe Consumer

I?m not quite sure this is what Bob Dylan had in mind, but good lyrics are timeless, after all.  And not that we?re quite yet past the dark ages of the Bush years, but there are a few good signs.  One, of course, is the fraud suit just brought against Goldman Sachs by the SEC, which seems to be waking up after years of hibernation, allowing the financial economy hit the skids.  (Wow, could AIG be next? )

Another is the appointment of former Missouri Insurance Commissioner Jay Angoff to implement the health insurance industry reforms under the new health bill.  The New York Times discussed Jay today in a profile of new health care players, although the article left out my favorite fact about Jay ? he?s a great keyboardist and once played for the 60?s rock band, the Brooklyn Bridge.  Their big hit, ?The Worst That Could Happen,? is another timeless lyric, and one that all greedy insurance executives must be singin? now!

That?s because there is not a better advocate for consumers, and for insurance industry accountability, than Jay Angoff.  In his past work with the Center for Justice & Democracy, Jay took on medical malpractice insurance companies and their actuaries, who consistently exaggerate future losses to justify rate hikes.  Jay found that, "The leading malpractice insurers? Annual Statements indicate that they have been raising their premiums even though both their actual claims payments and their projected future claims payments have been falling.?  This report, of course drove the insurance industry crazy because it was based entirely on their own statements submitted under oath! 

The Times called Jay the ?nemesis of the insurance industry.?  Or as we would put it, it?s ?The Best That Could Happen?!

Full post as published by ThePopTort on April 19, 2010 (boomark / email).