Sixteen state insurance agencies failed a national evaluation by the State Integrity Investigation, a private research project sponsored by the Center for Public Integrity, Global Integrity and Public Radio International.
Reporters in all 50 states evaluated their states' corruption risk, covering issues such as transparency, accountability and ethics enforcement. The report breaks the results down into several regulatory categories, including state insurance commissions.
Wyoming's insurance department was at the bottom of the list with a score of 26, earning it an "F." Fifteen other departments received the same letter grade, despite posting higher number grades.
On a scale of 0-100, the Wyoming insurance department received 0 for citizen access to the asset-disclosure record of the insurance commission and disclosure of documents filed by insurance companies. It received a score of 33 for the department avoiding conflicts of interest, and a 37 for both protection from outside influence and effectiveness of conflict-of-interest regulations.
By contrast, winner Mississippi's insurance department scored an "A" for its 91-percent evaluation. The state received 100-percent scores for four questions and 81 percent for disclosure of documents filed by insurers. Its lowest score, 66 percent, was for citizen access to the department's records.
Mississippi's insurance department was followed by Connecticut, which was also graded "A" and earned a score of 90. Next came New Jersey, graded "B+" with a score of 88 percent.
Other state insurance commissions scoring below 50: South Dakota, Georgia, New Mexico, Nevada and Idaho.
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