You go, Martha

Thankfully, Attorney General Martha Coakley is paying attention to auto insurance companies in the wake of the state's deregulation of the industry.

Massachusetts insurance commissioner Nonnie Burnes assured us that rates wouldn't go up after announcing her system of "managed competition," but Coakley pointed out that the average driver's cost would've gone down 11% under the previous system of regulation and will now drop 6% (not, as Burnes had recently said, 7.7%) under the current framework.

Coakley said the difference means $200 million more in the pockets of insurance companies and their agents. She is pressing the insurers to review and reset their prices, and she is clear that, "At this stage, it is too early to make a determination about whether managed competition will advantage or disadvantage consumers."