As president of the National Conference of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL), an organization of state lawmakers dedicated to sound insurance public policy, I know first-hand the benefits of state regulation for insurance consumers. NCOIL lawmakers care deeply about the financial security and protection of our friends, families, and neighbors.

We avidly support insurance reform and work toward necessary modernization. We strongly believe that state officials–who are more experienced and more in tune with the needs of their constituents–are the appropriate regulators of insurance. We conversely believe that the federal government–which is less experienced in insurance matters, and more removed from constituents–is ill-advised in the recent efforts on the part of some federal officials to wrest regulation from the states in a barrage of schemes that include an optional federal charter for insurers, a federal super-regulator for systemic risk, and a Consumer Financial Protection Agency, which for insurance would distance the protected from the protector.

We advocate state regulation because we understand the importance of local communication and long-standing personal connections. Insurance consumers expect elected representatives–much like their insurance agents–to be accessible when questions arise and abuses occur. They count on us to ensure that their insurance companies can deliver. Particularly now, with consumers struggling to manage their personal and financial lives, we can't weaken the bond of individual relationships.