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In recent years, the pace of growth in government credit programs has accelerated markedly (U.S. Government Accountability Office 2016). Direct loans and loan guarantees by the federal government increased from [...]

The battle between bankers and insurers over bank sales of insurance products threatens to hurt both industries as it comes to a head in Congress. Insurers have been been lobbying against banking industry regulatory relief bills, threatening to kill the measures unless they include language limiting bank insurance powers. The strategy is unpopular among lawmakers and could damage the insurers' position in the long run. The pending regulatory relief bill will be defeated by Democrats if insurers make Republicans choose between the two industries., A few months ago, I had the opportunity to debate a top official of the Independent Insurance Agents of America before the annual convention of the Florida Association of Insurance [...]

Few New Laws On Surplus Lines Enacted In '91 Few changes have occurred this year on the surplus lines legislative landscape. There have been rumblings regarding impending federal regulatory involvement [...]

The CLASS Act, a new entitlement to insurance for long-term care, was passed alongside Obamacare. The program was structured to take in taxes before paying out benefits and thus made [...]

The National Assn of Insurance Commissioners' (NAIC) Jan 1, 1994 deadline for states to receive accreditation or be subject to sanctions against them has created protests from insurance industry associations and New York and Vermont legislators. The NAIC has been accused of providing Congress with grounds for demanding federal oversight of the insurance industry by weakening sanctions and providing a loophole that allows some states to avoid the official accreditation process. New York and Vermont legislators question NAIC's presumption of states right's in revoking New York's accreditation and requiring Vermont to change a current insurance law as a requirement for accreditation., As the January deadline looms when 'sanctions' against non-accredited states begin, questions have arisen as to whether the National Association of Insurance Commissioners has left a loophole in its controversial [...]

Heat Builds For Congress To Act On Ins. Insurance regulation in the United States is a matter traditionally handled by state government. However, as the economic and political stakes of [...]

WASHINGTON-Advocates of terrorism insurance legislation are growing increasingly optimistic that the Senate will pass its long-delayed bill this week. In fact, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., filed a cloture [...]

As promised at the spring meeting of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners in March, the Improvements to State-Based Systems (EX) Working Group has begun looking into the possibility of [...]

WASHINGTON -- May-3 -- (CongressDaily) Senate Banking Chairman Gramm indicated that he does not plan to hold hearings soon on industry suggestions for federalizing certain types of insurance, although he [...]

Who would have thought that negotiations within the insurance industry concerning the language of a model producer licensing act could have been brought to a screeching halt by a dispute [...]

Fearing that a Congress intent on quickly establishing uniform insurance regulations could give their jobs to a federal supervisor, state insurance commissioners Thursday tried to persuade lawmakers that they are [...]

The effort to reform state insurance regulation gained steam with the release of 'concept paper' by a major property-casualty association calling for a scaling back of the industry's antitrust immunity [...]

Regulators and insurance industry officials are skirmishing over standardizing confidentiality language in model laws, not because they differ on the objective but because of how the process is being handled. [...]

A constant refrain from opponents of tax cuts is that the federal budget surplus should be 'invested' in programs such as Social Security, Medicare and education. Planning responsibly for the [...]

The Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration has proposed new rules on benefits claims procedures filed by ERISA covered group health and pension plans participants. The proposal states that group health plans should notify participants of initial review decisions within 15 days if nonurgent and within 72 hours if urgent. Moreover, disability claims would also have to resolved within 30 days and appeals on disability claims to be resolved within 45 days.

As Nov. 4 looms, insurance professionals in New Jersey are watching the closing days of this week's gubernatorial elections with alarm, warning chat some of the auto insurance changes proposed [...]

Washington What could be the final attempt to mark I up financial services reform legislation this year remained in flux at press time despite an agreement between Republican and Democratic [...]

The mandate seems straightforward enough: advise President Clinton on ways to ensure that the interests of patients are represented in the nation's health care system. Straightforward, maybe, but not easy. [...]

Allstate Insurance Co. is lobbying for Illinois' H.B. 223, a bill which includes a provision to protect the confidentiality of insurance company's internal audits. the language is designed to prevent internal audits from being accessed by outside attorneys for use against insurers. The bill has passed both houses of the Illinois state legislature and is expected to be signed by the governor. The law would apply only with the state of Illinois., Legislation, backed by Allstate Ins. Co., that would ensure the confidentiality of internal compliance audits and prevent them from being accessed by outside attorneys for use in lawsuits against insurers [...]

Allstate Insurance Co is lobbying for Illinois state bill HB 223, which includes a section granting insurers the privilege to protect internal audit documents from public access. The regulation purports to encourage voluntary compliance among insurers. Under the regulation, insurers can give internal audit documents to insurance department officials without waiving confidentiality privileges. The bill was passed by the Illinois legislature and awaits the governor's signature., Legislation, backed by Allstate Ins. Co., that would ensure the confidentiality of internal compliance audits and prevent them from being accessed by outside attorneys for use in lawsuits against insurers, [...]

Insurance industry groups are protesting the use of model laws in the National Association of Insurance Commissioners' project to codify statutory accounting principles. Groups including the American Council of Life Insurance, Alliance of American Insurers and American Insurance Assn say the Insurers Model Act or Model Investment Law would limit their options and cause confusion when divergent from state requirements., Insurers bridled over the possibility of model laws being referenced in an ongoing project to codify statutory accounting principles, claiming this backdoor approach to implementing model laws nationwide would prevent [...]

Insurance industry experts and business leaders praised the Senate for including product liability rule reforms on the schedule for the year. The Alliance of American Insurers, Product Liability Coordinating Committee and National Association of Independent Insurers all spoke about the legislative outlook on the subject., WASHINGTON--Insurance and business groups are pleased that the Senate leadership included product liability reform as one of its legislative priorities for the 105th Congress. 'We were certainly happy to see [...]

Insurance agents are adjusting to new laws designed to protect consumers from sales misconduct. The National Assn of Insurance Commissioners issued a model law in 1996 regulating illustrations used to sell life insurance. The regulation should provide better documentation for agents and customers. New York's state legislature may attempt to revise regulations affecting agents' compensation. Regulators and insurers may also develop standards to decrease the incidence of churning., In spite of last year's numerous vanishing premium suits and continuing revelations of marketing misconduct, agent leadership is expressing confidence that measures being taken to protect consumers will also help [...]