Revolving Door of Gov’t Makes Industry Reform Difficult

NU Online News Service, Oct. 4, 9:16 a.m. EST

COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO.—The decades of power shifts in Washington has created an unstable governing environment making it difficult for the insurance industry to implement needed reforms, says the chairman of The Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers.

During the opening session of the Council's 98^th annual Insurance Leadership Forum, Council Chairman James P. Pender, honorary chairman of BB&T-Oswald Trippe and Co., says the constant power changes are unprecedented.

“This is no ordinary time” for business and the country with over two decades of constant power shifts in Washington creating uncertainty and instability for the nation, he says.

“For our industry, what are the consequences of operating in the middle of a revolving door? What is our best response?” asks Pender.

He says the reaction has been “to do more than sit back and await our fate.”

The Council took the initiative by reevaluating the relationships it had with members of Congress when these power changes took place in order to “send a clear message to our government leadership.”

However, despite the best efforts of the Council and others in the industry, the efforts have still met with resistance.

He noted that after years of industry support Congress passed the Surplus Lines reform act that Pender points out “benefits our industry, benefits our clients, reduces cost and increases efficiency.”

However, despite passage of the reform, and a date for implementation, he asks “why the law still has not been implemented as Congress intended.”

He goes on to criticize the Patient Protection and Affordable Healthcare Reform Act. He says that when he hears the word affordable associated with the act he equates it to the sound of nails being dragged across a blackboard.

He asks whether those who passed the legislation expected to be around Congress to see it implemented or wondered if they failed to understand the implications of the legislation.

As the “revolving Congressional door moves around,” he says the Council remains an important institution with the aim of representing the interests of insurance brokers.

He went on to praise the association, saying that no matter who comes through “that revolving door” to lead the government, the Council will be there to make sure the interests of brokers and their clients “will be heard in the halls of the U.S. Congress.”

He adds that “there has never been a time when the stable presence of the Council in Washington D.C. been more relevant or of greater importance.”