NDP calls for transparency on insurance rates

By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on April 1, 2022.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com

The provincial NDP is calling on Jason Kenney’s government to release the Superintendent of Insurance’s annual report on insurance companies.
Opposition leader Rachel Notley and MLA for Lethbridge West Shannon Phillips addressed the issue on Thursday in Calgary.
The last report was issued in 2019 by the provincial government.
The annual reports contain a summary of insurance information in Alberta including statements of provincial companies, a statistical review and a list of insurance companies licensed in the province.
Notley said the reports, which were released annually by the Superintendent of Insurance for 107 years, also include data showing what insurers collected in premiums and what they paid out in claims.
The office of the Superintendent of Insurance is responsible for insurance sector regulatory compliance activities performed by the offices of Financial Sector Regulation and Policy, which is a division of the Alberta Treasury Board and Finance.
The province says the annual report isn’t presently being published “to adequately assess the need for this publication. The information typically found in the report such as ‘Alberta incorporated insurance company financials’ can be found at a different page called Insurance, says the government.
On that page, a link can be found to financial data for Alberta incorporated insurance companies. This provides additional links to 11 companies and more links to quarterly reports, the latest for all of them being Q2 in 2021.
“For 107 years, Alberta’s Superintendent of Insurance has published an annual report that includes data showing the amount insurance companies collected in premiums versus how much they paid out in claims. Simple but important information. In other words, that report for 107 years has shown the core measure of the profits that insurance companies have been enjoying in this province,” said Notley.
But “for some reason” the 2020 report was not released, she said.
“So our caucus filed a Freedom of Information request to obtain that report. In response, we were told by the government they will not be publishing a report for 2020 nor will they be publishing a report for 2021. This is troubling….because 2020 was a very important year in the auto insurance industry and for Alberta drivers. The year prior to that the UCP acted to remove the cap on insurance premium increases that we put in place when we were in government.
As has been well documented, this was after the UCP was lobbied by the premier’s former chief of staff and campaign manager Nick Koolsbergen.
“We saw immediate and dramatic rate increases from auto insurers. Many Albertans were hit with insurance hikes with the double digits and some were as high as 30 per cent and many of these increases came in 2020 as the pandemic hit and Albertans were staying home,” said Notley.
“Alberta families were paying far more to insure their vehicles even when they were barely driving them or keeping them parked. Higher premiums and fewer claims presumably means insurance companies made a lot of money and this report, which has come out every single year for more than a century, would show that one way or another in detail,” said Notley.
But the UCP decided to hide the information from Albertans, she said.
“It’s worth noting the Superintendent of Insurance is an employee of the Minister of Finance and that the Insurance Act itself says the minister may prepare and publish reports,” added Notley.
She said it’s a decision taken by the finance minister at the direction of cabinet, caucus and Jason Kenney.
The Opposition leader said the the finance minister has chosen not to release the report “right after deciding to hand massive profits to insurance companies while many Albertans are struggling to keep up. For the UCP to hide this report is shameful and it’s clear this direction is a decision of the minister himself,” added Notley.
Phillips said during the pandemic, many Albertans lost jobs, had their hours reduced or had to close businesses and struggled to pay bills including car insurance.
“It was particularly galling to see those insurance bills explode for vehicles that were barely used at the time of the pandemic. At that time we called on the UCP government to provide relief for drivers. After all it is the provincial government that is responsible for your vehicle insurance. We called at that time for a 25 per cent premium reduction, we called for policies to be extended. We’ve called for the rate cap that we had put in place to be reinstated. But the UCP refused at every step of the way,” Phillips said.

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