Virginia Is Latest To Ban Insurance ’Price Optimization’

Virginia has become the 19th state to ban the insurance industry practice of "price optimization" -- a method many insurers use to get the highest possible premium payments out of policyholders.The term refers to insurance companies studying consumers’ behavior to test their tolerance for price changes, then using that information to set rates, rather than basing rates on objective measurements of risk. The practice may be profitable, but Virginia Insurance Commissioner Jacqueline Cunningham says it is illegal and she has issued an official bulletin to insurance companies reminding them of that fact.