NU Online News Service, May 9, 9:00 a.m. EDT--Insurers and agents spoke out against a proposed Premium Reduction Plan for crop insurance at a house subcommittee hearing, while the one company currently offering a PRP defended the program.
At a hearing last week of the House Agriculture Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management, Norman Nielsen, president of Preston, Iowa-based Associated Insurance Counselors Inc., testified on behalf of the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America. He told lawmakers that the group is staunchly opposed to the PRP program, which allows the seller to discount the policies utilizing technology and selling policies directly to farmers, bypassing the independent agent network. Additionally, he questioned why the Risk Management Association [the federal agency running the program] allows only one company, Crop 1, to offer the product while it has suspended others from doing so during the rulemaking process.
"If this is RMA's idea of promoting competition in the industry, then the future looks very bleak for anyone involved in the delivery of this important risk management program, and I shudder to think of the impact it will have on America's agriculture producers," Mr. Nielsen said.
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