Gregory Serio, the New York state insurance superintendent, and America’s Health Insurance Plans, Washington, are welcoming the release of the new regulatory modernization “road map” proposal.[@@]
Rep. Richard Baker, R-La., chairman of the Capital Markets Subcommittee of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee, released the long-awaited discussion draft of the road map bill Aug. 20.
The road map bill, officially dubbed the State Modernization and Regulatory Transparency Act, is a “good start” for discussions on modernization of insurance regulation, Serio says. “It shows that they [federal lawmakers] have been listening to what we have to say.”
Serio is one of the state insurance commissioners at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, Kansas City, Mo., who have been working with Congress to create federal tools that could help modernize state insurance regulation. That road map draft is “a reflection of the series of discussions that have already taken place,” Serio says.
The draft still has to be vetted by the NAIC membership, but it does include many of the initiatives that the NAIC is working on, Serio says.
Serio cites sections that include NAIC work on topics such as speed-to-market initiatives, but he says there are still concerns about the notion of a federal entity regulating insurance. And there are differences about how rates should be regulated, he says.