OK now let me ask you something. How long do you think mandatory insurance would have lasted had the insurers simply refused to sell it? Moist auto insurers BTW also sell homeowners etc. It's just like the healthcare insurers. Obamacare is something companies like BC/BS have been trying to get pushed through for decades. It gives them a mandatory market. The insurers may yell, kick, and scream in protest when their lobbying efforts tell a completely different story.
I'll offer no defense for any of them because they own a good majority of our lawmakers these days. I'll call them what they are. Corporate Socialist Tyrants using government to guarantee profits.
That's an excellent question. I'll tell you exactly how that worked here in New Jersey. Insurance carriers began to do exactly that -- and the state government responded by issuing a mandate for insurance companies to write auto insurance policies as a condition for being licensed to sell any insurance in the state. As a result, companies did one of two things: (1) they pulled out of the state entirely, if auto insurance was their primary business line (for a long time, I believe GEICO refused to sell policies here); or (2) they established separate subsidiaries in New Jersey that enabled them to directly tie their premiums for New Jersey policy holders to their enormous claims in New Jersey. Item (2) was necessary for them because under state law this was the only way for them to legally impose premium hikes beyond the limits imposed by the state.
After a few years of this, the State of New Jersey got really serious about auto insurance reform like never before.