Elizabeth Warren Insurance Deregulation Amendment Raises Federal Standard For Agents
Elizabeth Warren Insurance Deregulation Amendment Raises Federal Standard For Agents
WASHINGTON -- The Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee on Thursday approved new bipartisan legislation to deregulate the insurance industry, but not before Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) snagged a small victory for consumers.
The deregulation bill, authored by Sens. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Mike Johanns (R-Neb.), will create a new federal licensing program for insurance agents that would replace the current state-by-state system.
Warren's amendment, her first in the banking committee, would strengthen consumer safeguards by raising federal standards for the new insurance agent license. The amendment's language requires anyone who serves on the board responsible for establishing the new federal licensing standards to have "demonstrated expertise" in life insurance, health insurance, or property and casualty insurance before being granted a 50-state license. The amendment was approved with the unanimous consent of the committee.
No floor vote has yet been scheduled for the bill.
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Full article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/06/elizabeth-warren-insurance-deregulation_n_3397162.html
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It is a bad idea, and I can't believe Elizabeth Warren is doing anything more than voting against it. This bill needs to go down in flames.
If enacted, the insurance companies will do what the credit card companies did. They'll all open a little office and incorporate in whatever state (Delaware, South Dakota) has the most lax insurance laws and regulations. They will then proceed to buy the state legislature (of that one, small state), and then get whatever laws they want passed. This will take away from the other 49 states the right to regulate insurance. This will seriously hurt consumers, in the same way that consumers get abused by credit card companies.
It was a bad idea then, and it's a bad idea now. If a Democratic Senate passes this law and a Democratic President does not veto it ...
-Laelth
