Business of Insurance

McCarran-Ferguson
Business of Insurance Regulatory Reform Act
Dodd-Frank Act
Michael McRaith
2022 0908 – GOV (Senate) – Current Issues in Insurance – Brown
LC - Pireno
Liqudation of Insurance Company
Relationship Between Company and Insureds
Supreme Court

2010 - Book - Regulating the Business of Insurance in a Federal System, By Joseph F. Zimmerman

(p71) - If you want to do something to help the regulation of insurance and to help the policyholders, then cut through the case law and amend McCarran-Ferguson to precisely state that "the business of insurance "includes insolvency proceedings.

-- Karl L. Rubenstein, Special Deputy Insurance Commissioner, State of California

1988 0914 and 0915 - GOV (House) - Insurance Company Failures, John Dingell (D-MI) --- [BonkNote]

Opening Statement of Senator Metzenbaum (D-OH)
- Today the Subcommittee on Antitrust and Monopoly begins its examination of cost disclosure in life insurance.
  - Life insurance is a tremendous business in this country.
  - Americans carry 140 million ordinary life policies, with nearly $1.3 trillion in coverage.
  - Cash-value life insurance accounts for more than 20 percent of total savings in this country-second only to deposits in savings and loan institutions.
- The business of life insurance is presently exempt from the Federal antitrust laws under the McCarran-Ferguson Act.
  - It is the only major financial business without Federal regulation. This is a unique situation.
- It is fair to ask how well has the industry operated under this system.
  - Do consumers of insurance enjoy the benefits of competition?
  - Are consumers able without heroic efforts to find the best coverage for their needs at the lowest cost?
  - And are consumers able to readily understand precisely what kind of coverage they are buying?
- My staff has conducted a major investigation of these issues.
  - I must say today that I was shocked when I saw its findings. (p1)

1979 0524 - GOV (Senate) - Cost Disclosure in Life Insurance, Howard Metzenbaum (D-OH) --- [BonkNote]

The United States Supreme Court has identified three factors in determining whether a particular practice is part of the business of insurance:
- first, whether the practice has the effect of transferring or spreading a policyholder's risk;
- second, whether the practice is an integral part of the policy relationship between the insurer and the insured; and
- third, whether the practice is limited to entities within the insurance industry."
- Union Labor Life Ins. Co. v. Pireno, 458 U.S. 119, 129, 102 S.Ct. 3002, 73 L.Ed.2d 647 (1982).
The Court stated none of these factors is necessarily determinative of the issue. Id.

2000 - LC - Cox v Woodmen of the World, Court of Appeals of South Carolina - [Google-Scholar]

(p20) - Karl L. Rubenstein, Special Deputy Insurance Commissioner, State of California - But the Court went on to say what it saw as the business of insurance is that which touches the fundamental relationship between the policyholder and the insurance company, which, of course, would be things such as the policy,
- and there are many cases throughout the country that hold that the insurance regulatory statutes, specifically the insolvency statutes, are part of the insurer's - excuse me, yes, of the insured's insurance contract, and that is bound by them, and since these State insurance insolvency regulations will determine whether or not a dollar that is available to — that is in the estate of the insurance company will be paid to the policyholders or paid to somebody else is an issue of overriding importance to State regulators today.
(p71) - Several decisions have held that under McCarran Ferguson, the state priority statutes should apply and that liquidation of insurance companies is "the business of insurance" within the meaning of McCarran- Ferguson. See, for example, ...
(p71) - In the 1987 case of Gordon v U.S. Dept. of Treasury,²⁴ however, it was held that liquidation of an insurance company is not "the business of insurance ."

1988 0914 and 0915 - GOV (House) - Insurance Company Failures, John Dingell (D-MI) --- [BonkNote]

An example of this approach is Colonial Life & Accident Insurance Co v American Family Life Assurance Co,' where a federal district court applied the broader National Securities analysis.
The court ruled that a state law regulating insurance advertising fell within the boundaries of "business of insurance" for purposes of the first clause of the McCarran-Ferguson Act because the law affected the insurer-insured relationship.³²

2000 - LR - After Fabe: Applying the Pireno Definition of "Business of Insurance" in First-Clause McCarran-Ferguson Act Cases, by Peter B. Steffen - 27p