NEW YORK, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Soaring insurance premiums, particularly for autos, are fueling rising consumer prices and complicating policymakers' attempts to beat back inflation, reported The Washington Post on Friday.
"Inflation cooled for much of the year before picking up this fall, with insurance prices for autos, homes and medical care contributing to a 15 percent of the increase in overall consumer prices, economists say," noted the report. A double-digit spike in auto-insurance prices drove the vast majority of that rise.
Indeed, November's hotter annual inflation gain of 2.73 percent would have been much lower, closer to a 2.37 percent inflation rate, without the outsize increase to auto insurance, it said. Insurance premiums are among a handful of stubborn costs that have yet to yield much relief for consumers, in addition to shelter costs and other services like medical care.
"Car insurance has remained elevated, and it has a bigger influence on overall inflation than other types of insurance because it's required to drive in most states," it added. And that cost can multiply with more than half of households owning two or more cars, according to census data.
