NAIFA’s Policy Director Roger Moore attended NAIC’s Spring 2025 National Meeting on March 23-26, where he had the opportunity to strengthen NAIFA’s relationships with state regulators and industry trade partners as well as advocate for key priorities affecting NAIFA’s members. Before regulators convened for the meeting, they announced their 2025 federal legislative and regulatory priorities, which include 1) preserving and respecting states’ primary role as insurance regulators by eliminating the Federal Insurance Office (FIO); 2) ensuring natural catastrophe resilience; 3) promoting and preserving state flexibility to manage their health insurance markets; 4) providing consistent funding for crucial programs; and 5) producing guidance for key issues, including Section 1557 nondiscrimination rules, copay accumulator rules, and mental health parity grants.
Regulators continue to focus on the use of artificial intelligence by insurers. During the meeting, the Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (H) Working Group provided a road map for developing a full regulatory framework governing the use of AI. Regulators are focused on 1) defining principles and assessing insurers’ AI use; 2) developing AI risk evaluation tools; 3) regulatory oversight and accountability; and 4) identifying and addressing gaps in AI evaluation. The framework follows a 2024 AI Model Bulletin, which has been adopted by nearly half of all states as of April 2025.
The regulation and preservation of health insurance markets have become key concerns for regulators. At the meeting, and in a letter addressed to Congressional leaders in March 2025, they stressed the importance of ensuring that Medicare Advantage marketing practices should be enforced at the state level and not by federal regulators. They highlighted that the Medicare Modernization Act (MMA) limited the authority of states to oversee MA plans to just solvency and licensing. Before the MMA, states have full authority to review all marketing practices, pursue market conduct reviews, and penalize unscrupulous actors. State authority to enforce CMS marketing rules would add enforcement capacity while maintaining one set of national rules for plans and marketers.
Regulators also support the continuation of enhanced premium tax credits under the ACA, arguing that they have resulted in greater enrollment and access to healthcare along with positive economic impacts for hospitals, doctors, and pharmacies. Other health-related priorities include stronger regulation of pharmacy benefit managers, continuing state regulation of association health plans, and additional support for small-group health insurance markets.
The Life Insurance and Annuities (A) Committee received an update on the status of the U.S. Department of Labor’s proposed fiduciary rule, which set to take effect on September 23, 2024, but was sidelined by lawsuits brough by industry groups, including NAIFA, and the rule is now on hold until those disputes are resolved. The DOL under the Trump administration is not expected to defend the rule after requesting a 60-day pause in court proceedings to give administration officials time to familiarize themselves with the rule as well as the two lawsuits challenging it.