House - Committee on Financial Services - Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government Sponsored Enterprises
(p1-2) - Richard Baker (R-LA): The committee is again revisiting a subject which we have examined over the course of literally years on many occasions, the goal of which is to provide a regulatory system which enables creativity and innovation in insurance product while serving the interests of consumers in the most responsive manner possible.
The history of insurance regulation in the Nation is one of some considerable interest to anyone who has reasons to purchase or rely on deliverability of an insurance product, and the work of the committee specifically over the past several years has been to try to seek out a balance of all the competitive stakeholder interests and at the same time move toward a system which is more reflective of free market principles.
It is difficult to understand how a very simple, straightforward life insurance policy, which is intended to be sold nationally, will require 54 different regulatory entities’ approval before it is permissible to market nationwide.
I will simply go back to comments of commissioners over the course of the last few years.
Reider, Nichols, Vaughan, Csiszar
In an earlier committee hearing, two commissioners participated. Michigan’s Insurance Commissioner Fitzgerald and then-Ohio Commissioner Covington responded to a question from Chairman Oxley, which was, ‘‘If Congress sets a goal of 3 or 4 years for achieving comprehensive uniformity by NAIC for product approval, do you and Mr. Fitzgerald feel confident you can meet the goal?’’
Mr. Covington responded, ‘‘Chairman Oxley, I think we have got
to meet that kind of goal. As we have said before, the current system is not good for consumers, not good for the companies. We must meet that goal.’’
Mr. Fitzgerald responded, ‘‘I agree with that, and if over the next 2 to 3 years you have not seen significant progress, I think there is a need to have questions raised about whether we can effectively, at the State level, solve problems that you have helped to identify and that we are identifying as well.’’
The disappointment is that was 4 years ago, and I think that is the platform from which I would like to begin today
(p2) - Dennis Moore (D-KS): Chairman Baker, I would like to thank you for holding this hearing today on ways that Congress can improve and strengthen the State-based system of insurance regulation.