Fighting for better insurance.

• Author: Otis, Lauren
• Position: Consumer Insurance Board; shows consumer power in Illinois - On The Line - Brief Article

Chicago

"Tell insurers to get ready. We are coming." says Pat Quinn. Quinn is the founder of the Consumer Insurance Board, a grassroots organization seeking to counter overcharging, redlining, and other insurance-industry abuses. In its first six months, the Consumer Insurance Board has signed up nearly 4,000 members in the Chicago area. The group's goal, says Quinn, is simple: "better insurance protection, whether it is auto, life, or health--for lower prices."

Last spring Chicago's city clerk agreed to the Citizen's Insurance Board's request to include a letter by Ralph Nader on excessive auto-insurance rates in all vehicle-registration renewal notices. Within months, thousands joined the group. Teamsters Local 710 has promised to include Consumer Insurance Board information in its mailings. And Quinn says the Cook County clerk will include a Consumer Insurance Board letter in its bulk mail.

Quinn hopes to replicate the success of the 15O,000-member Illinois Consumer Utility Board (CUB), which he helped set up fifteen years ago. This organization has won more than $1 billion in refunds and rate rollbacks for utility consumers. "The power of the customer is an enormous untapped power, whether it is insurance or utilities," Quinn says. "CUB has shown that this approach works. We intend to make it work for insurance."

The task won't...