HOUSTON–National Association of Insurance Commissioners CEO Ben Nelson, and a group that says it is poised to defend state regulation, upped the rhetoric against federal insurance supervision while at an event here.

“Folks may look at us as if we are protecting our turf, [but] with any assault on state regulation, I am out of my chair, ready to fight immediately,” said the former U.S. Senator from Nebraska, NAIC official, state regulator and governor during his first NAIC meeting as the association's CEO. “State regulation is worth protecting.”

Nelson spoke a gathering during the NAIC's Spring Meeting sponsored by the States Alliance for Balanced Insurance Regulation (SABIR), which states in literature that “every day the specter of federal regulation grows and the onslaught against states' rights continues.” The group tells state regulators, “We fight for you!”

Nelson reiterated his request that the Federal Insurance Office stay “in its own lane.” Nelson says the FIO has yet to overstep its intended bounds, but added that there is a lot of “uncertainty” out there about its role, and that “clarity is our ally.”

SABIR, which sponsored a private gathering at the NAIC conference's hotel, is headed by Calif. Rep. Barry M. Goldwater, Jr. (R-Calif.). The non-profit group has been in existence since about mid-2010 and pays particular attention to small and medium-sized insurers because they have found it increasingly difficult to get their particular point of view known, says SABIR.

Goldwater said he would encourage all insurance commissioners to take a stand against any encroachment from FIO.

“I think we have a potential army not only in the commissioners but in the industry,” Goldwater said at the event.

As examples of federal failures, Goldwater invoked examples such as Amtrak, Fannie Mae, the War on Drugs and the War on Poverty to try and demonstrate how the Affordable Care Act does not hold much promise for fixing health care coverage.

He advised states to step back and take a “wait-and-see attitude” toward any implementation of the ACA and exchanges, adding that state-based exchanges are a misnomer because even they have to get stamps of approval from the federal government.

It does not list its members, but SABIR's website notes small and mid-size insurers have found it increasingly difficult to get their particular point of view known to, and advocated within, Congress.

“The threat of federal regulation usurping state regulation and states' rights has never been stronger. The time for action is now,” SABIR literature adds. ”Opposition armies are assembled, well provisioned, and marching in formation towards the skirmish line. But we are not even on the battlefield. YET.”

The group is headquartered in Washington, D.C. although Goldwater runs a Phoenix-based consulting business, which includes all insurance segments including reinsurance and s team composed of former insurance commissioners and regulators.

SABIR also finds fault with two large trades, the American Insurance Association (AIA) and the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI). Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI) is not mentioned but SABIR's chairman of the board is Ernie Csiszar, former CEO of PCI.

The ACLI and AIA “are inclined to support federal regulation,” SABIR says in promotional material. “Some larger national insurers have even taken out prominent ads in influential Washington publications pushing federal regulation.”

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NAIC CEO Nelson 'Ready to Fight Immediately' for State Regulation

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