In May, the Competitive Enterprise Institute and The Heartland Institute released their 2009 Report Card on state insurance regulations. In that report, they try to answer two questions: “How free are consumers to choose the property and casualty insurance products they want?” and “How free are insurers to provide the property and casualty insurance products consumers say they want?”

North Carolina did not make the grade. The report gives North Carolina’s insurance laws a “D-“. Only seven states received a worse grade, placing North Carolina’s insurance regulations as the 8th worst in the nation. (Note: The grades are awarded based on deviations from the average score.)

The report goes on to suggest that North Carolina’s poor score is largely due to its “antiquated and unfair auto insurance system” and claims that the system “borders on government price control.”