PIA National President Robert Page, in his monthly letter to PIA members, takes note of some of the recent events regarding insurance regulatory modernization in Washington, D.C. and brings them into clearer focus. Page comments on a recent hearing held by Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-Penna.), Chairman of the House Financial Services Capital Markets Subcommittee, about Kanjorski’s bill to create an Office of Insurance Information (H.R. 5840). Page notes some of the interesting maneuvering surrounding this legislation, which he says is one part of a coordinated attempt to remove insurance regulation from the states and transfer it to the federal government.

“This piece of legislation – along with others – is part of a coordinated, frenetic push by advocates of federal insurance regulation to sweep away opposition and advance their agenda,” writes Page. “These bills are the ‘Trojan Horses’ being rolled up to the doors of Main Street insurance agencies, as well as small to mid-sized regional and national insurance carriers.

“If allowed to succeed, we will ultimately see the Treasury Department’s ‘New World Order’ for insurance regulation, which it detailed in its own report in March. It will be a world where there are no state Departments of Insurance and only a handful of big national and international insurance carriers, who can then attempt to finally get rid of both their competitors and Main Street insurance agents.” You can read Robert Page’s full letter here.

June 17, 2008