Democrats To Change Committee Leaders, Priorities

- Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

Dodd prides himself on his support for the insurance industry.

Baucus has been working closely with Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, the current Senate Finance Committee chairman. He has been more supportive of the idea of reforming the estate tax rather than repealing it.

In the House, the most missed faces will include Rep. Nancy Johnson, R-Conn., a strong supporter of the insurance industry who was serving her 11th term in Congress; Rep. Jim Leach, R-Iowa, a former chairman of the House Financial Services Committee; and Rep. Sue Kelly, R-N.Y., chairman of the House Financial Services Committee oversight subcommittee. Kelly has been a strong supporter of the insurance industry on terrorism risk insurance issues and other issues.

Here is a rundown on how the personnel changes could affect insurance legislation:

- Estate tax: House Democratic leaders have told the Association for Advanced Life Underwriting, Falls Church, Va., that they want to return to the old “pay as you go” rules for offsetting any new tax cuts or extensions of existing tax cuts with cuts in spending.

The shift back to a pay-go system could help the life industry fend off estate tax repeal efforts, AALU President Dermot Healey says in a note to members.

- Taxation of inside buildup: The Democrats are unlikely to tax annuities or the inside buildup in life insurance policies, according to Frank Keating, president of the American Council of Life Insurers, Washington.

“I have not heard that the Democrats seek to tax insurance products,” Keating said during a teleconference. “It would further weaken the ability to deal the crisis confronting retirement security, and weaken the incentive for people to save for their future. It would be counterproductive.”

- Tax Reform Commission Proposals: The Bush administration created an advisory commission that has proposed eliminating most tax incentives associated with insurance and current retirement savings programs and replacing those tax incentives with a lifetime savings account program.

The lifetime savings account proposal and other Tax Reform Commission proposals, including the insurance incentive proposals, appear to be dead, Keating said.

“The commission had some interesting ideas, but some were political non-starters,” Keating said. “The types of policies proposed under the commission would not sit well with the populist Congress coming to power.”

- Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Plans: A Congress led by Democrats may be more likely to try to narrow or eliminate the “doughnut hole,” or gap in coverage that affects insureds who use up routine benefits but have not yet paid enough for prescriptions to qualify for catastrophic coverage, according to analysts at Washington Analysis.

- Health savings accounts: Democrats are unlikely to improve HSA incentives but also seem to be unlikely to eliminate the HSA program, analysts say.