Members of The National Association of Professional Insurance Agents (PIA) are unsettled about a federal insurance study.
They feel that the study is biased and will not produce accurate results. If the law is based on these inaccuracies, they feel this could be devastating to the insurance industry.
Currently, the Federal Insurance Office (FIO) has been called upon to report the potential risks and benefits of federal regulation in the insurance industry. The current authority over insurance belongs to each individual state, preventing the FIO from regulating the insurance industry. PIA CEO and National Executive Vice-President, Leonard Brevik, states that if questioned in the study, federal bureaucrats will ultimately choose to give this authority over to the federal government, further expanding the reach of the government in the private sector.
The PIA official stance is that Congress should not fund this study. Further, FIO should not have the ability to make their recommendations for insurance regulations to Congress. Brevik feels that the results of just one study could be biased. More than one study needs to be performed, by differing groups, in order for Congress to be given accurate results.
Brevik further concluded that the federal government is seeking to expand the reach of the FIO despite that this would exceed the original mandate of the federal office. Neal Wolin, the deputy secretary of the treasury department supports the expansion of the FIO feeling that the involvement of the federal government will allow for the improvement and modernization of the insurance system, said Brevik.
Brevik and the PIA continue to stand by their position. They further urge that the FIO should not be allowed to conduct studies whose results are the basis of changes made in laws at the Congressional level. He feels this is a massive conflict of interest.
