SAN DIEGO--Insurance department Web sites should gear consumereducation efforts toward detailed information about individualinsurer practices instead of providing only definitions ofcoverages, a consumer advocate told regulators.

Speaking at the consumer liaison forum at the NationalAssociation of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) Spring Meeting,Daniel Schwarcz, a consumer representative from the University ofMinnesota Law School, whose NAIC meeting attendance is funded byNAIC, said departments of insurance should provide information suchas how well individual insurers pay their claims, how often theyare sued, and how often judges and juries have found bad faith.

The only such information departments currently provide iscomplaints to state insurance departments, Mr. Schwarcz said.

He added most of the information given to consumers consists of,for example, explaining what insurance covers, or how much lifeinsurance an individual should buy. While this type of informationis useful, Mr. Schwarcz said, consumers also need to know howreliable the coverage they buy really is.

Gregory Squires, a consumer representative from GeorgeWashington University in Washington, D.C., said the NAIC shouldalso look into how insurers treat consumers of difference races,stating that data shows there is a discrepancy in how people aretreated based on their race.

Mr. Squires' comments drew a reaction from Connecticut-basedconsumer representative Sonja I. Larkin-Thorne, who worked in theinsurance industry for over 30 years. She contended the issueshould be about consumer education, not race, and she said everyperson of color who submits a claim does not get treated poorly.She added, "I have a problem with everything coming down torace."

Mr. Squires countered that just because everyone of color doesnot get treated poorly, it does not mean there is not a problem. Henoted not everyone of color is discriminated against when theyapply for a job, but that does not mean labor laws protectingminorities should be eliminated.