The medical costs paid by workers' compensation and automobile insurers have been rising even faster than health-care expenses in general.

Industry officials said other automobile insurers are expected to follow suit.

State Farm is the largest automobile insurer in California, covering three million vehicles, or 17 percent of the market.

The group, which represents 20 percent of the automobile insurers in the state, said insurance rates should be raised 5 percent to finance 20-year bonds.

Farmers was the first big automobile insurer in California to seek a rate increase since the passage of the initiative 11 months ago.

As an automobile insurer since 1902, Aetna had a financial interest in promoting highway safety.

To a lesser degree, so would many automobile insurers.

Seven years ago, New York passed a law requiring automobile insurers to grant discounts for safety devices like air bags.

The industry and consumer groups have different ideas of what is fair, and are at odds over whether automobile insurers even make money in the state.

Risk pools, which have been used by automobile insurers for years, group high-risk people who cannot obtain private insurance coverage elsewhere.