Advocacy in action blog

Insurance and financial professionals provide a powerful advocacy voice at state and federal levels.

On Sept 21, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 1418, the Competitive Health Insurance Reform Act of 2020. The bill repeals specific parts of the McCarran-Ferguson Act that exempt insurance businesses from most federal regulation.

NAIFA-Iowa recently held a successful combined in-person/virtual state conference, Sept. 9-11 in Cedar Falls. The program highlighted each point of NAIFA’s membership promise – Advocate, Educate, Differentiate – but the focus turned squarely to advocacy during the Thursday keynote presentation by state Insurance Commissioner Doug Ommen and the Friday Newell C. Day Awards Breakfast keynote address by Sen. Chuck Grassley.

The New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance announced on September 11 that individuals who want to take the insurance producer examination may do so remotely, even after the public health crisis ends.

The insurance industry in New Jersey faced a scare in mid-September when Senate President Steve Sweeney introduced S-2902, which would impose a tax on high-quantity processors of financial transactions at $0.0025 per transaction. The bill defines "high-quantity" as processors of 10,000 or more financial transactions through electronic infrastructure located in New Jersey during the year. There was speculation the funding mechanism would be attached to the state budget. Fortunately, the state budget was approved, and the transaction tax was not included.

November is just two months away and with it comes two things: First, the relief that of knowing that 2020 is moving into the rearview mirror. The second, and perhaps most important, is Election Day and the checklist of things we have to do before we can cast our ballots.  

The California State Legislature recently passed a bill to prohibit life and disability income insurance providers from denying coverage to HIV-positive individuals. The bill, initially introduced as SB 961 by Sen. Lena Gonzales (D), was initially concerning to NAIFA. Together with the Association of California Life & Health Insurance Companies (ACLHICI) and the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI), NAIFA worked with Gonzales to amend the bill to give insurers more underwriting flexibility, while still prohibiting them from declining applicants based solely upon an HIV test.

Bradford Campbell, a partner with the law firm Faegre, Drinker, Biddle & Reath, testified today on behalf of NAIFA and several other industry organizations at the U.S. Department of Labor’s Administrative Hearing on the Proposed Class Exemption Regulation “Improving Investment Advice for Workers & Retirees.”

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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.