Big Data refers to massive databases of information about (millions) of individual consumers, and data mining (rooting around the data looking for any type of pattern)—all packaged into some kind of scoring model. An insurer might use all types of non-insurance databases of personal consumer information for marketing, pricing, and claims settlement.
Insurers have always been in the data collection and data management business, but historically the data collected was limited. In the past decade, insurers started utilizing credit information and data mining, collecting social security numbers and non-insurance data such as web browsing history or online shopping habits, and using new categories of insurance data such as more granular claims data, drones, or telematics. The Center for Economic Justice has advocated for greater consumer disclosure and control over the personal data collected by insurers, for greater security and protection of these personal data by insurers and for meaningful disclosure and redress if the personal data are lost by or stolen from insurers.
Insurer’s use of big data has huge implications for fairness, access, and affordability of insurance. Despite insurers’ claims that algorithms are “objective,” Big Data algorithms can easily reflect and perpetuate historic unfair discrimination. In a 2004 study, the Missouri Department of Insurance found that the single best predictor of the average insurance credit score in a zip code was the size of the minority population in the ZIP code.
The Center for Economic Justice believes that insurers’ use of Big Data holds great opportunities to improve availability and affordability of insurance, to improve transparency in insurance sales and claims settlement, and to promote partnership between consumers and insurers to prevent losses and promote resiliency and sustainability. But such outcomes are not automatic. Without public policy guardrails, insurers will use Big Data in the opposite direction—resulting in less transparency and less accountability to consumers.
Insurer’s use of Big Data poses a huge challenge to state insurance regulation. Big Data and associated algorithms radically increases the market power of insurers, both versus regulators and versus consumers. Regulators face huge challenges in their ability to keep up with changes and protect consumers from unfair practices. CEJ continues to hold insurers accountable for their practices, to improve the available market monitoring tools for insurance regulators, and to increase disclosure of insurer Big Data practices. We aim to stop unfair practices that undermine insurance availability and affordability.
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| 865 downloads | 1.0 | Dana Glass | 2018-06-21 12:24 | ||
| 1160 downloads | 1.0 | Dana Glass | 2018-06-21 12:23 | ||
| 777 downloads | 1.0 | Dana Glass | 2018-05-15 12:23 | ||
| 1054 downloads | 1.0 | Dana Glass | 2018-05-03 12:17 | ||
| 907 downloads | 1.0 | Dana Glass | 2018-04-06 11:52 | ||
| 767 downloads | 1.0 | Dana Glass | 2018-04-06 11:50 | ||
| 840 downloads | 1.0 | Dana Glass | 2018-03-20 11:53 | ||
| 731 downloads | 1.0 | Dana Glass | 2018-03-07 11:47 | ||
| 731 downloads | 1.0 | Dana Glass | 2018-03-01 12:21 | ||
| 1054 downloads | 1.0 | Dana Glass | 2018-03-01 12:18 | ||
| 781 downloads | 1.0 | Dana Glass | 2017-12-03 20:55 | ||
| 795 downloads | 1.0 | Dana Glass | 2017-09-21 20:57 | ||
| 764 downloads | 1.0 | Dana Glass | 2017-09-18 20:58 | ||
| 819 downloads | 1.0 | Dana Glass | 2017-09-10 20:56 | ||
| 731 downloads | 1.0 | Dana Glass | 2017-08-15 21:00 | ||
| 744 downloads | 1.0 | Dana Glass | 2017-08-14 20:59 | ||
| 807 downloads | 1.0 | Dana Glass | 2017-08-08 21:01 | ||
| 836 downloads | 1.0 | Dana Glass | 2017-08-06 20:57 | ||
| 668 downloads | 1.0 | Dana Glass | 2017-05-25 14:36 | ||
| 745 downloads | 1.0 | Dana Glass | 2017-05-24 14:33 | ||
| 751 downloads | 1.0 | Dana Glass | 2017-04-28 14:47 | ||
| 762 downloads | 1.0 | Dana Glass | 2017-04-24 15:04 | ||
| 773 downloads | 1.0 | Dana Glass | 2017-04-08 15:26 | ||
| 841 downloads | 1.0 | Dana Glass | 2017-04-08 15:25 | ||
| 704 downloads | 1.0 | Dana Glass | 2017-03-03 15:13 | ||
| 718 downloads | 1.0 | Dana Glass | 2017-01-05 14:52 | ||
| 711 downloads | 1.0 | Dana Glass | 2016-10-25 15:27 | ||
| 793 downloads | 1.0 | Dana Glass | 2016-10-13 15:30 | ||
| 804 downloads | 1.0 | Dana Glass | 2016-09-27 15:12 | ||
| 758 downloads | 1.0 | Dana Glass | 2016-08-28 14:41 | ||
| 678 downloads | 1.0 | Dana Glass | 2016-08-19 15:28 | ||
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| 728 downloads | 1.0 | Dana Glass | 2016-08-08 14:46 | ||
| 797 downloads | 1.0 | Dana Glass | 2016-08-01 15:29 | ||
| 699 downloads | 1.0 | Dana Glass | 2016-05-09 15:18 | ||
| 752 downloads | 1.0 | Dana Glass | 2016-05-04 15:19 | ||
| 749 downloads | 1.0 | Dana Glass | 2016-04-03 14:38 | ||
| 826 downloads | 1.0 | Dana Glass | 2016-02-01 15:15 | ||
| 763 downloads | 1.1 | Dana Glass | 2015-12-10 15:33 | ||
| 829 downloads | 1.0 | Dana Glass | 2015-11-01 13:50 | ||
| 721 downloads | 1.0 | Dana Glass | 2015-07-21 13:48 | ||
| 687 downloads | 1.0 | Dana Glass | 2015-07-20 13:54 | ||
| 802 downloads | 1.0 | Dana Glass | 2015-07-03 14:37 | ||
| 792 downloads | 1.0 | Dana Glass | 2015-06-29 15:22 | ||
| 757 downloads | 1.1 | Dana Glass | 2015-05-27 14:51 | ||
| 720 downloads | 1.0 | Dana Glass | 2014-08-16 15:09 | ||
| 678 downloads | 1.0 | Dana Glass | 2012-03-19 15:21 | ||
