Michigan Insurance Commissioner Resigns

Michigan Financial and Insurance Services Commissioner Frank Fitzgerald has resigned, though he had two years before his appointed term expired.

New Gov. Jennifer Granholm, a Democrat, attacked insurance-based scoring as unfair and discriminatory during her tenure as attorney general and said Fitzgerald was too cozy with the insurance industry.

Fitzgerald was appointed by former Gov. John Engler, a Republican, in January 1999. Fitzgerald had previously served in the Michigan House of Representatives for 12 years and worked as an Eaton County prosecuting attorney.

Fitzgerald recently issued a bulletin requiring Michigan insurers to actuarially justify their scoring models, recalculate rates annually based on new credit information, and file their models with the Office of Financial Services, which would make the models avaiable to the public via the Freedom of Information Act.

Topics Michigan