Advocacy in action blog

Maryland’s new Insurance Commissioner, Kathleen Birrane, had an opportunity to introduce herself to the state’s insurance agents and financial advisers on August 25 during a townhall webinar with NAIFA-MD, the Maryland Association of Health Underwriters and Maryland Insurance Agents and Brokers.

The Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) issued an interim final rule providing the important information employers need to comply with the new requirement that they give retirement plan participants annual illustrations of the monthly lifetime income they would receive from their retirement plan account balances.

NAIFA-GA members were invited to attend Gov. Brian Kemp’s signing of a law requiring health insurance carriers to file commissions rates they offer producers as part of their filings with the state. The law (HB 716) also gives the state Insurance Commission the power to enforce commission rates. The law will help insurance producers impacted by the Medical Loss Ratio provisions of the Affordable Care Act, which has resulted in many carriers reducing or eliminating health insurance agents’ commissions.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in June began requiring broker-dealers to submit detailed information on securities trades to the SEC’s Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) database. A similar requirement for options trades went into effect in July. The purpose of the CAT is to allow SEC regulators to identify and analyze irregularities and threats to the securities markets.

The U.S. Treasury Department has released a report from the Federal Interagency Task Force on Long-Term Care Insurance recommending government actions to foster innovation in long-term care (LTC) product design, improve the efficiency and relevance of LTC product regulation and promote financial literacy on LTC matters.

NAIFA President Cammie Scott submitted a comment letter on behalf of NAIFA that generally supports the Department of Labor’s proposed class exemption for investment advice fiduciaries under ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code and makes several suggestions to improve the proposal.

A new survey by the Alliance for Lifetime Income (ALI) finds that 70% of older working Americans with at least $100,000 in assets are more pessimistic about their retirement plans because of the COVID-19 pandemic. One-in-five of these workers, or approximately 3.2 million Americans, now plans to retire later than they had anticipated. ALI notes that the number would likely be much higher had the survey also included older workers with less than $100,000 in assets.

This special NAIFA webinar provided Paycheck Protection Program updates and information on COVID-19 amendments to the Family Medica Leave Act that insurance and financial professionals need to know. NAIFA members may view the webinar on-demand. If you are not a NAIFA member, please join.

The CARES Act, signed into law in late March, waives the 2020 required minimum distribution (RMD) for IRAs and defined contribution plans, like 401(k)s and 403(b)s. This provides owners of these products flexibility and prevents them from having to draw down their plans while facing COVID-19-related market volatility.

The federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) has provided more than $517 billion in COVID-19 relief loans to nearly 5 million employers across the United States. Nearly 170,000 loans have gone to companies in the finance and insurance sector, while many more have gone to small businesses served by NAIFA members and other financial professionals. As of July 7, more than $130 billion remained in PPP funding, according to the Small Business Administration.