When it comes to evaluating the value of the People’s Insurance Counsel, Howard County Delegate Warren Miller feels less is more.

Warren Miller

“A regulator to regulate regulation is just crazy,” he recently told IFAwebnews.com.

Miller, a Republican, has filed HB 144, a measure that would repeal the division of the Maryland Attorney General’s office that assists consumers with specific insurance issues. The bill would transfer all of the PIC’s equipment and assets to the Maryland Insurance Administration.

“I opposed the creation of the PIC years ago and I’m still not clear on what they do that the MIA doesn’t currently do,” he said. “I have a problem with government growing and becoming larger, so I’m not sure we need it, especially with this budget.”

The PIC’s budget would be $547,486 for fiscal 2011, which begins July 1, unless Miller’s bill passes, which would end the office’s operations on that date. It is still unclear if the state would have to then pay for the salaries of three full-time employees, thus increasing the state’s general fund, or lay them off.

“The people paying for this are taxpayers and ratepayers,” Miller said. “Insurance for anyone in Maryland is more expensive because of bureaucracy. The MIA is a much larger organization and I’m not sure what they are doing wrong.”

At a recent House Economic Matters Committee hearing, Miller cited the fiscal 2011 budget number, estimating that it averages out to about $94,000 per person. Citing the fiscal note from another bill, HB 27, Miller said the MIA can do the same work for about $37,000 a year.

In addition to trio of consumers appearing at the hearing, Peter Killough, who serves at the PIC’s counsel, defended his office’s existence, calling it “invaluable.”

“Consumers won’t have an advocate if this bill passes,” Killough told committee members. “The MIA typically doesn’t advocate for consumers, it is not their mission.”

The committee has yet to take action on Miller’s bill.

The MIA declined comment on the bill to IFAwebnews.com.

// People’s Insurance Counsel

• Created in 2005 as division of attorney general’s office
• Funded through assessment from medical professional liability and homeowners insurers issuing policies in Maryland
• Evaluates medical professional liability and homeowners’ matters before state insurance commissioner to determine whether consumer interests affected
• Reviews rate increase of 10% or more in two lines of insurance
• Staffed by three full-time, two part-time personnel in fiscal 2009
• Budget of $501,369 for fiscal 2010
• Reviewed 359 homeowners and two medical malpractice determinations by MIA in fiscal 2009; 64 consumers contacted division after regulator findings
• Reviewed 857 homeowners and 129 medical professional liability insurance filings in fiscal 2009; did not hold any hearings

Sources: PIC fiscal 2009 annual report; Maryland budget documents

This story originally appeared in the March 2010 print edition of Insurance & Financial Advisor.