NCOIL - Snippets

  • 1993 0124 - The Washington Post - States Need to Reform Insurance Guaranty Funds, Jane Bryant Quinn - [link]
    • To reduce the lottery element of settlements, the National Conference of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL) has proposed a single, interstate guaranty fund.
  • 3. H.R. 1290 -  Bob Mackin (NCOIL) expressed concerns about the various industry and related groups that have publicly supported H.R. 1290.
    • Assemblyman Lasher said that NCOIL and NAIC should present a coordinated effort to oppose the legislation for the best interest of insurance consumers.
    • Director McCartney noted that consumer groups generally agree that H.R. 1290 does not offer any consumer protection.
    • The members agreed to continue to coordinate their efforts to defeat the federal legislation that would preempt state regulation of insurance.

1993-2, NAIC Proceedings

H.R.1290 - Federal Insurance Solvency Act of 1993103rd Congress (1993-1994) - congress.gov/bill/103rd-congress/house-bill/1290?s=1&r=34

  • 59 The principal insurance market failures that may warrant regulation of firm conduct are imperfect information and principal-agent conflicts.
    • Some consumers may be hampered in their knowledge and understanding of insurance transactions and ability to fully protect themselves from abusive practices.
    • Abusive practices are broadly defined as actions that take “unfair” advantage of a consumer with material harm to the consumer.
  • If consumers were fully knowledgeable about their insurance needs and options, presumably they could avoid transactions that were not in their best interest.
    • For example, consumers with full knowledge could not be misled with respect to the expected returns on universal life insurance policies.
  • The reality is that it is difficult for many consumers to assess policy provisions and their financial implications, particularly for complex insurance products (Joskow, 1973; Schlesinger, 1998).
    • Consequently, an insurer or an agent could lead some consumers into buying insurance policies under terms that are detrimental to the consumers.

2003 0701 - NCOIL - The Path to Reform – The Evolution of Market Conduct Surveillance Regulation, Prepared for the Insurance Legislators Foundation by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and Georgia State University - 117p

  • (p6) - I do note that on reinsurance issues, there does need to be a national debate on what we do with reinsurance issues.
  • We have been discussing this along with NAIC, and there are very technical, detailed things that have to happen on a worldwide basis, not just what we do.

--  Craig Eiland, Texas House of Representatives, on behalf of the National Conference of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL)

2007 1030 - GOV (House) - Additional Perspectives on the Need for Insurance Regulatory Reform, Paul Kanjorski (D-PA)  ---  [BonkNote]

  • 2008 0610 - GOV (House) - H.R. 5840, The Insurance Information Act of 2008, Paul Kanjorski (D-PA)  --- [BonkNote]
    • (p14) - NCOIL - Brian P. Kennedy, Representative, Rhode Island House of Representatives, and President, National Conference of Insurance Legislator.
      • When commenting on H.R. 5840, NCOIL finds it hard to close its eyes and ignore the lack of any State legislative presence because it is the State legislators that have shaped, by statute, the robust insurance market that exists today. It is ironic that States should bear the burden of proof to half preemption of the very laws that successfully steered the insurance sector through the pitfalls that have faced similar industries.
      • State solvency laws have helped make the insurance market stable while the banking market, under Federal regulation, was rocked by the savings and loan scandals of the 1990’s, and by the subprime lending crisis of today. And even Federal initiatives, including ERISA, FEMA, and the NFIP have often fallen short of their goals.
      • Regarding the NAIC role in this proposal, NCOIL believes that giving the NAIC a primary role in the Office of Insurance Information allows the tail to wag the dog. State regulators, four-fifths of which are gubernatorial appointees, are authorized by legislators to interpret and enforce the statutes that we develop. H.R. 5840 would dramatically enhance the authority of the NAIC at the expense of the State officials to whom they, as insurance regulators, are accountable.
      • It is unprecedented that the Federal Government would give  such power to a private trade association—I repeat, a private trade association—or to what NAIC immediate past resident Walter Bell of Alabama in an April 9, 2007, letter called: ‘‘a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation with voluntary membership and not a State government entity.’’ This NAIC president went on to say that: ‘‘When individual insurance commissioners gather as members of the NAIC, they are not considered a governmental entity or a public body as defined by the various open meeting laws, but rather are a private group. As an organization, the NAIC does not have any regulatory authority.’’
      • We have noticed that Congress, like us, does not take lightly the ceding of authority to an Executive Branch. This was evidenced by your reaction to the Bush Administration’s August 2000 SCHIP enrollment directive. Now Congress is asking State legislators to cede authority to a private trade group.
  • State insurance regulation was not a factor in the economic downturn and should not be swept into any proposed financial services overhaul.

2009 0402 - Letter - NCOIL to (GOV) - Senators Dodd and Shelby, and Congressmen Frank, Shelby, Bachus - 2p