The House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance held a hearing today entitled, “The Factors Influencing the High Cost of Insurance for Consumers.” In advance of the hearing, PIA submitted testimony for the record.

The hearing examined the status of the domestic insurance industry, including recent developments in the property and casualty insurance market that have led to higher costs and lower availability for consumers. Its focus included the increasing cost of insurance, current challenges facing individual state markets, insurance’s unique state-based regulatory framework, and the effects of federal and international regulatory developments.

PIA was particularly pleased that the hearing highlighted two proposals to repeal or reform the Federal Insurance Office (FIO): the FIO Elimination Act and the Insurance Data Protection Act. PIA helped to develop and supports both bills. Our written testimony highlights our support for the bills and for a draft resolution noticed for the hearing in support of the McCarran-Ferguson Act, the primary statutory authority on which the state insurance regulatory system relies.

The Insurance Data Protection Act, introduced by Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (R-WI), would remove the FIO director’s subpoena power. The FIO Elimination Act, introduced by Rep. Ben Cline (R-VA), would protect our strong state regulatory structure by fully repealing the FIO. We support reforms that substantially reduce the FIO’s power, particularly over domestic matters. While we continue to advocate for the full repeal of the FIO, PIA views the Insurance Data Protection Act as an important step toward restoring the primacy of the state regulation of insurance. 

PIA has been leading the effort to repeal or meaningfully reform the FIO for years. In November 2016, PIA became the first national insurance association to publicly call for the repeal of the FIO, and we have focused on building support for the repeal or substantially reform of the office ever since.