[The Great Yazoo]

the insurance industry is notoriously difficult to reign in.

Because of the incestuous relations between the regulated and regulators (and legislatures). A sharp dose of de-regulation would help here. Then insurance companies (much to their horror) would have to compete on the basis of price and customer service.

[atlaw]

Because of the incestuous relations between the regulated and regulators (and legislatures).

This is unfortunately too true in Texas. The regulations range from embarrassingly favorable to ridiculously punitive (the latter, oddly enough, right around election time). It's alot like the minimum wage -- either ineffective or pernicious, which is a pretty good argument in and of itself for some significant deregulation.