This is the first anti-trust law suit of it’s kind in the re-insurance industry. Attorney General Richard Blumenthol prosecuted the case. He says “the prices of the reinsurance products were inflated by a third or more.

The suit against co-conspirator, Guy Carpenter, was filed in 2007. The Attorney General alleges that the company conspired with dozens of reinsurers to illegally increase costs for insurance companies and consumers nationwide for over 25 years.

The suit alleges that Guy Carpenter, enlisted companies in a widespread pay-to-play scheme through which Guy Carpenter would funnel lucrative business to select reinsurers in exchange for excessive fees and other benefits from these reinsurers.

Reinsurers agreed not to compete against the prices and terms set by Guy Carpenter in exchange for highly profitable business, Blumenthal alleges. Reinsurers who refused to participate were foreclosed access to potential business.

This is a problem for all of us. My question is why and how is it that Guy Carpenter or the executive at The Hartford have managed to maintain their insurance licenses.  The operate nationally and globally. Isn’t there a Department of Insurance from at least one state that is willing to peruse legal action against them?  All I see in California is Steve Poisner who is the commissioner, constantly going after the little guy.  How about the large companies, Steve? Are you worried about the future outcome of your political career?

The lesson learned from this article is: if you have a lot of money and decide to rip off Americans for 25 years – you can!

Tags: guy carpenter, harford agrees to pay settelment, hartford price fixing

This entry was posted on Friday, October 23rd, 2009 at 7:03 am and is filed under Insurance News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.