Florida Insurance Commissioner Urges Congressional Delegation to Preserve State-Based Insurance Regulation
May 21, 2009
Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty, along with National Association of Insurance Commissioners representatives, met with Congress members this week to advocate the preservation of state-based insurance regulation.
A press release from the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation on the meeting is reprinted below.
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Florida Insurance Commissioner Urges Congressional Delegation to Maintain State-Based Regulation of Insurance
WASHINGTON – The state-based insurance regulatory system has been a constant in an otherwise erratic economic climate. That was the key message conveyed when Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty visited members of Congress to highlight the part of the regulatory system that has consistently worked.
Commissioner McCarty joined National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) Chief Executive Officer Dr. Therese M. (Terri) Vaughan and more than 35 state insurance commissioners Wednesday and Thursday for meetings with members of Congress to discuss insurance regulatory reform.
“It is imperative that we preserve and build upon the successful model of our national state-based regulatory system,” said Commissioner McCarty. “The American people want more financial stability, not less. Reform proposals must ensure that consumers have accountable and local regulators who can provide continued stability despite these challenging economic times. As a state regulator, my department works hard every day to make sure that insurers honor their promises to Florida policyholders.
“Any reform framework must integrate, but not displace our current state-based system of insurance regulation. It must serve to safeguard further the assets of the insurance companies these regulators oversee so the companies can meet their obligations to the individuals and businesses who, as policyholders, have put their trust in them. We have continually improved and strengthened the state insurance regulatory system for more than 150 years.”
In addition, during the two-day visit, commissioners also heard Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services, share his views for financial regulatory reform; Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius addressed members of the group on health insurance reform; and Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-N.D.) offered his perspective as a former NAIC President and North Dakota Insurance Commissioner.
The Washington visits were designed to ensure that federal lawmakers give careful consideration to any reforms to the nation’s financial services regulatory structure and to stress that reforms must provide consumers with the time-tested protections of the national system of state insurance oversight..
“As Congress works to address the current financial turmoil, we want to make sure the comprehensive national system already in place – the existing state-based insurance regulatory system – is given full consideration and review,” said Commissioner McCarty.
Commissioner McCarty further noted that, as a whole, the business of insurance has not posed systemic risk to the nation’s economy, instead providing a source of relative calm in an otherwise turbulent time. State insurance solvency oversight has kept insurance companies stable and protected policyholders from the worst of the financial meltdown, and state regulators continue to provide a local response to consumer issues at no cost to federal taxpayers.
“We believe that federal and state regulators should work together in a way that continues to protect consumers and promote financial stability. There are areas in which we might need federal assistance, but that assistance should streamline the strong state-based regulatory framework – not supplant it with a new federal bureaucracy,” McCarty said.
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