Antitrust

We would have been subject to antitrust action had we tried to develop that in the profession alone; they had to be in the regulation.

  • Departure from the past practice of avoiding antitrust laws can only happen when the regulators take the lead.
  • The ASB cannot make these changes by itself. 

--  Frank S. Irish, (ASB - Actuarial Standards Board)

1995 - SOA - Sales Illustrations, Society of Actuaries - 14p

  • (p339) - We produced a broad report on antitrust immunities, so that the Congress and the public could see why the ones that were in place exist, and ask whether they are still justified.
    • This was supported by very detailed reports on ... the pricing and marketing of insurance...

--  Prepared Statement of Donald I. Baker (Assistant Attorney General, Antitrust Division, Department of Justice)

1977 0503, 0504, 0505, 0511 and 0512 - GOV (Senate) - Oversight of Antitrust Enforcement - [PDF- 915p-GooglePlay]

  • Senator Metzenbaum.  Now, you make some recommendations in your report for educational efforts, disclosure, and professional standards of practice.
    • For those recommendations to be implemented industrywide, the NAIC would need to approve a model regulation, which in turn would need to be passed in each of the 50 States.
      • ⇒  Or there could be an alternate.
      • Companies would have to mutually agree to a standard in which they fully disclose information not specifically required.
    • Since they are exempt from the antitrust laws, which, as you probably know, I don't agree with, they certainly could at this moment join together this afternoon and agree to do the things that the Society of Actuaries has concluded should be done.
      • ⇒  Why don't they move more rapidly?
  • Judy Faucett:  I think it is possible that they might, sir.
    • Just so that you understand, the Society of Actuaries is an actuarial organization that is responsible for research and education.
      • Our report is a research report and it identifies a number of alternatives to current practice. 
    • It is the American Academy of Actuaries that actually takes that research and then determines how best to go about implementing changes, whether they be standards of practices, which would be regulations that would be promulgated within the actuarial organizations, or whether they would be regulations or disclosures that would go through the NĂIC.
    • So in some sense, we are just getting to the group that can go about and develop a framework for change.
      • We have done the research.
    • Now, we need to develop an implementation plan, and my hope is that we can get a number of companies to agree that the path that we are defining is the right one to follow and that they will voluntarily move in that effort before the NAIC actually acts on it, as long as there is an indication from the NAIC that they agree with the changes that we are recommending.
  • Senator METZENBAUM.  Do you think these things are going to happen soon?
  • Ms. FAUCETT.  Well, I certainly hope they are going to happen in my lifetime.  (p279)

1992 0623 - GOV (Senate) - Consumer Disclosure of Insurance - [PDF-323p-GooglePlay,

  • Report - 1991-1992 - SOA - Final Report* of the Task Force for Research on Life Insurance Sales Illustrations, Society of Actuaries - 142p
  • Mr. HUNTER. We have come a long way, Mr. Chairman, since April 11, 1984, when Chairman Rodino opened the first set of these hearings and received a statement from Senator Pepper, who had opposed on the floor of the Senate the McCarran bill.
  • Mr. BROOKS. Senator Pepper?
  • Mr. HUNTER. Senator Pepper, yes.
  • Mr. BROOKS. Claude Pepper?
  • Mr. HUNTER. Claude Pepper.
  • Mr. BROOKS. He was against it.
    • I want to tell you all the truth now.
    • Claude Pepper told me that he was against this bill when it passed in 1945.
  • Mr. HUNTER. That is right.
  • Mr. BROOKS. That he tried to kill it, and they had it killed.
    • He held it up and they harassed him and harassed him, and after 2 or 3 days of agony they finally passed it over his objection and his serious distrust and opposition.
  • Mr. HUNTER. That is right.
  • Mr. BROOKS. And he said it is not any better now than it was when I fought it in 1945.
  • Mr. HUNTER. That is right.
  • Mr. BROOKS. Pepper was an interesting man.
    • You all would have loved him-some of you. [Laughter.]

Mr. HUNTER. Even before the April 1984 hearings started, you had the:

  • Department of Justice study which concluded that the antitrust exemption should be narrowed.
  • the Carter Commission on Antitrust Laws and Procedures.
  • There is a long list of supporters, the American Bar Association, consumer groups, and so on, the AFL-CIO, business groups-a very broad coalition.
  • Editorials from the New York Times supporting change, supporting your position, Business Week, Journal of Commerce, the LA Times yesterday.
  • The insurance industry and a few others are opposing, but even they are beginning to come around.
  • You have the American Insurance Association now willing to discuss change; they don't support your bill but they are willing to come to the table.
  • And others-the Alliance of American Insurers has shown some flexibility.
  • The ACLI showed some and then retracted.
  • But there is a great deal of activity going on even in the insurance industry.

-- J. Robert Hunter

1991 0613 - GOV (House) - Insurance Competitive Competitive Pricing Act of 1991 - [PDF-237p-GooglePlay,