Georgia insurance commissioner-elect plans rent freeze and insurance reforms

Georgia's newly elected Insurance Commissioner, Keisha Sean Waites, has outlined priorities including a rent freeze initiative, ending zip code and credit score discrimination in insurance, and creating a consumer fraud task force, according to pjmedia.com.

Waites has no prior licensing in the insurance industry or experience in statistical risk assessment. Her background includes legislative liaison work with FEMA during disaster responses and service in the Georgia House of Representatives and Atlanta City Council.

She proposes prohibiting insurance companies from using zip codes and credit scores to determine premiums, aiming to prevent discrimination but potentially causing financially healthy residents in safer areas to subsidize others in higher-risk zones.

Waites has stated that geography and credit scores have no bearing on insurance risk calculations, a position that has drawn criticism for ignoring common risk factors such as crime rates in different neighborhoods.

She also plans to use her authority to scrutinize and potentially delay or deny proposed insurance rate increases if companies do not provide actuarial data, although questions remain about how she will assess justifications without considering geographic risk.

Her office will also investigate complaints and penalize insurers when customers experience issues, emphasizing consumer protection as a key part of her agenda.