What would people like to see from an insurance company whether product oriented or customer oriented?

Answer 1

Although the term, "transparency" is much overused, probably something like that can be best achieved by a consumer's enhanced understanding of that which insurance is, what it does, how it is prices and how it is regulated.

Insurance is, in a nutshell, a risk management device. It protects against some, but not all, of the financial loss that may befall a consumer from an event. Consumers must understand that insurance policies do not, nor are they intended, to cover all financial losses, much less in full. For example, a health or a life insurance policy will not pay for the repair of a car, but both may be implicated if an occupant of the car is injured or killed. That is, the auto policy will normally provide benefits for the payment of medical bills and, in some cases, if an occupant is killed, say, by an uninsured motorist, the equivalent of "life insurance". But even in those cases, the medical expenses or the uninsured motorist benefits paid are not the same as health insurance or life insurance.

People may have to rely upon an agent, a financial advisor or an insurance consultant to better understand this. Insurance companies (the entities to which the financial risk of a financial loss is transferred) may, by their nature, take too high a view of their business goals to ensure that consumers understand these day to day realities.