Regulation/Legislation

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, is making another attempt to end the antitrust exemption accorded health insurers through the McCarran-Ferguson Act.

Business groups and insurers are mobilizing to defeat a proposed amendment to the financial services reform bill that would substantively expand the reach of private securities litigation.

Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., has introduced an amendment to financial services regulatory legislation now pending in the Senate that would drastically reduce the authority of the Office of National Insurance it would create.

U.S. Senate Republicans believe failure to increase federal oversight of large insurance companies is a major deficiency of financial services reform legislation, questioning whether state guaranty funds are adequate to deal with large carrier failures.

Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty has come out full force in support of property bill SB 2044, passed in the final hours of the 2010 Florida legislative session.

Anxiety is growing within the agent and broker community about rules in New York going into effect in January 2011, requiring them to disclose to their clients information about compensation received from insurers.