Industry News

Republican leaders are expected to bring legislation to the House floor this week that would repeal and replace pieces of Obamacare even as they work to gain needed support of key GOP holdouts. The bill, the American Health Care Act, could come to the floor as early as Thursday.

Republican leaders didn’t have the votes last week to pass the measure even after President Donald Trump attempted to entice conservatives opposing some of the bill’s measures. GOP leaders can afford to lose no more than 21 votes in the chamber, presuming all Democrats vote against the bill.

While seeking to boost support for the bill, Republican lawmakers also are moving ahead with additional legislation as part of their broader plan to put new health policy in place. These bills would need 60 votes to clear procedural hurdles in the Senate, whereas the American Health Care Act would need only a simple majority in the Senate.

READ: PIA Opposes Health Insurance Sales Across State Lines

The full House is expected to vote on the Competitive Health Insurance Reform Act of 2017  H.R. 372, which would remove an exemption for health insurance companies under the 1945 McCarran-Ferguson Act, which exempts the business of insurance from federal antitrust laws to the extent it is regulated by a state. Insurance industry groups have argued that the measure would reduce competition, threaten state regulation of insurance and potentially harm health insurance markets.

House Speaker Paul Ryan said a second healthcare bill will be moved in tandem with the American Health Care Act, Ryan-led legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The second bill will include a provision allowing insurers to sell health insurance policies across state lines. The National Association of Professional Insurance Agents (PIA) opposes this provision because it would strip states of their regulatory authority over insurance and undermine the foundation on which state regulation of insurance is based.

Allowing health insurance to be effectively exempt from state regulation by permitting insurers to pick their own regulator in one state—and by so doing, evade the requirements of all 49 other states—would, by federal edict, eviscerate local control.

“All insurance is local,” said PIA National Executive Vice President & CEO Mike Becker. “Permitting the designation of any one state as regulator for all states would, in essence, impose a one-size-fits-all solution dictated by Washington, D.C.—which, ironically, has been one of the main criticisms of the ACA.”

Caution Against Continued Federal Encroachment Post-ACA

WASHINGTON — House Speaker Paul Ryan said a second healthcare bill will be moved in tandem with the American Health Care Act, Ryan-led legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The second bill will include a provision allowing insurers to sell health insurance policies across state lines. The National Association of Professional Insurance Agents (PIA) opposes this provision because it would strip states of their regulatory authority over insurance and undermine the foundation on which state regulation of insurance is based.

PIA is a steadfast supporter of the supervision and regulation of insurance by the states, and opposes all proposals to institute federal insurance regulation. State governors, legislators and regulators know best what will work in their unique markets, and what will not work. Allowing health insurance to be effectively exempt from state regulation by permitting insurers to pick their own regulator in one state—and by so doing, evade the requirements of all 49 other states—would, by federal edict, eviscerate local control.

“All insurance is local,” said PIA National Executive Vice President & CEO Mike Becker. “This is especially true of health insurance. Proposals that would preempt state authority and not allow states to form compacts among themselves effectively turn aside the collective expertise of the states. The path to constructing a replacement for the ACA should lead to more state control, not less. This proposal would transfer power from the states to the federal government.”

“Permitting the designation of any one state as regulator for all states would, in essence, impose a one-size-fits-all solution dictated by Washington, D.C.—which, ironically, has been one of the main criticisms of the ACA,” Becker said.

Founded in 1931, PIA is a national trade association that represents member insurance agents and their employees who sell and service all kinds of insurance but specialize in coverage of automobiles, homes and businesses. PIA members are Local Agents Serving Main Street America ^SM. PIA’s web address is www.pianet.com.

More than a year ago, PIA began talks with the National Underwriter about joining together to conduct the most comprehensive and exhaustive survey of America’s independent agency force that has ever been attempted to date.

Results of the National Underwriter/PIA Independent Agent Survey have now been released in the March 2017 issue of National Underwriter. Here is a link to the results as they appear in the magazine. On PC360.com online, selected results will be updated daily for the next two weeks. The findings provide revealing insight into the demographics, books of business and industry challenges of independent Property & Casualty insurance agents, as well as rankings of their most highly rated carriers.

“This data will be useful to PIA, in developing our own strategies to help our members succeed, and to carriers in their dealings with their appointed agencies,” said PIA National Executive Vice President & CEO Mike Becker. “The scope, breadth and depth of this study are truly significant,” Becker said. “Importantly, it probes just what agents need from their carriers to ensure mutual growth and profitability.”

The March 2017 issue of Rough Notes magazine has a feature article on the Buy Button as conceived by PIA. PIA National Vice President/Treasurer Keith Savino, a managing partner of Warwick Resource Group LLC, who is a former ACORD board member and current past chairman of NetVU (Network of Vertafore Users), is interviewed in the article.

Savino advocates a concept called the Buy Button and is working with an initiative spearheaded by PIA, with initial support from ACORD, agency automation vendors, other agent associations, and insurers, all dedicated to providing independent agents access to a real-time binding process. PIA has launched a major initiative to promote the Buy Button.

“PIA National took a leadership role,” says association Executive Vice President and CEO Mike Becker. “Part of the impetus was PIA Partnership research showing that commercial lines customers who prefer to do business with independent agents nevertheless want their agents to be fully capable, digitally.” PIA adopted a position in support of the concept, which has been endorsed by the American Insurance Marketing & Sales (AIMS) Society and NetVU, among other organizations. Read the full article.

Life insurers and business groups have filed an appeal seeking to overturn a ruling by a Texas federal judge that upheld the U.S. Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule. Judge Barbara M.G. Lynn, of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division, earlier this month rejected claims the rule was regulatory overreach and awarded summary judgment to the DOL. Federal judges in Kansas and Washington D.C. have also ruled in favor of the DOL. Plaintiffs include the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI), the Insured Retirement Institute and the Financial Services Institute.

The rule, issued in April 2016, would change how retirement advisers conduct business, while ensuring transactions are in the client’s best interest. The fiduciary rule has an initial deadline of April 10. The Trump administration is working on a rule to delay and possibly repeal the mandates before they take effect.

The National Association Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) wants lawmakers in Congress to seek a new covered agreement with the European Union governing how insurance is regulated between the United States and the European Union (EU). A covered agreement, negotiated by the U.S. Treasury Department and its Federal Insurance Office (FIO), was reached with the EU and submitted to the House Financial Services Committee on January 13. The agreement is not subject to congressional approval and becomes effective after a 90-day review period before Congress.

On Feb. 16, the House Financial Services subcommittee on Housing and Insurance held a hearing to discuss the agreement, about which there was disagreement.

“This covered agreement is not the answer, and we urge the Trump administration to reopen negotiations with the EU to obtain a better deal for the United States,” said Ted Nickel, NAIC president and Wisconsin Commissioner of Insurance. “State regulators can support an agreement which achieves clear and permanent mutual recognition for our time-tested U.S. insurance regulatory system, includes meaningful state regulator input and transparency.” Nickel has said most state regulators were not allowed to participate in the process.

National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC) President and Chief Executive Officer Charles Chamness said the agreement could be better. He was critical of the section that removes U.S. collateral requirements for EU reinsurers, if they meet all the other qualifying requirements to do business in the United States, saying it “particularly disadvantages smaller insurers, which are more reliant on reinsurance” and that “the small insurance companies will not have the same negotiating power as larger companies.”

Former FIO Director Michael McRaith defended the agreement, as did the American Insurance Association (AIA). Lee Ann Pusey, AIA president and CEO, calling it a “win-win” that protects the industry and “the U.S. system of insurance regulation.”

Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO), a former insurance agent, criticized both trade groups for their differences over the agreement and congratulated McRaith for his work. “Today we have an example of the problem we have in the insurance industry. We have two groups representing two different groups of insurance companies that disagree,” he said. “I will tell you from my perspective they had better get on the same page. I am up to here with this dysfunctional infighting.”

PIA commented following the hearing. “The fact that two groups representing insurance companies disagree substantively on the value of the covered agreement demonstrates that the agreement can be improved,” said Lauren Pachman, PIA National counsel and director of regulatory affairs. “Such differences could have been reconciled in advance, had state insurance regulators been fully included in the negotiating process. Although the agreement appears to respect the Unites States’ state-based system of insurance regulation, the valid concerns expressed by smaller insurers should be addressed.”

PIA National was represented by Vice President of Government Relations Jon Gentile at a meeting with senior members from the Trump Transition Team in early January. The meeting’s focus was on financial services issues broken into three issue buckets: Dodd Frank, regulatory relief, and housing and insurance.

PIA National spoke of the importance of a long-term reauthorization of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) that expires in September of this year, as well as the need to grow the private flood market. In addition, PIA was the only organization to call for the full repeal of the Federal Insurance Office. We will continue to engage with the Trump Transition Team leading to January 20 when President-elect Trump takes the oath of office.

Former Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner Michael F. Consedine has been named Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), effective in early 2017.

Consedine will lead the NAIC’s Washington, D.C. office with primary responsibility over state and federal government affairs and international activities. He will work closely with NAIC members, representing their interests as an advocate and spokesperson for the association.

Outgoing NAIC President John Huff said the NAIC needed someone with Consedine’s experience with international, insurance industry and state regulatory affairs. “Mike brings valuable experience and energy to this role during a time of transition with a new administration and Congress,” said Huff. “He is highly respected by members of the NAIC and served this body with distinction when he was Pennsylvania’s Insurance Commissioner.”

Consedine will fill the post left open since former U.S Sen. Ben Nelson left on Jan. 31, 2016. Nelson reflected on his insurance career in an interview in PIA Connection [“Mr. State Insurance Regulation”] conducted by PIA National Senior Vice President Patricia A. Borowski. Nelson will continue as a consultant to the NAIC through January 2017.

Despite all the hype about how online sales may “disrupt” the independent agent’s hold on the small commercial market, it just isn’t happening, points out PIA National President Gary Blackwell in an op-ed in the December issue of the National Underwriter [“Resilience in a Digital Age”].

“Survey after survey continues to show that the owners of small and midsize businesses want to work with their insurance agents, much to the ongoing frustration of various direct writers,” Blackwell says. “Clearly, the best strategy for carriers is to continue to support their agency force in providing their customers with what buyers want.”