Auto insurance

The idea that insurance premiums for bodily-injury coverage go mostly to compensate victims for medical expenses and lost wages is itself a form of fiction. Only 14.8 percent of such payments are disbursed for that purpose. (See the chart.) The outlay for attorneys' fees is nearly twice as high-28.4 percent. And fraudulent and excessive claims, at 12.6 percent, come close to matching the economic-loss outlays.