NCOIL Discusses Public Option, Paid Family Leave At Spring Meeting

Manasquan, NJ – The National Council of Insurance Legislators concluded its 2022 Spring National Meeting on March 6^th in Las Vegas, NV.  In what was the organization’s first of three scheduled National Meetings for 2022, there were 296 participants consisting of 52 legislators from 23 states, 16 first-time attendee legislators from 10 states, six Insurance Commissioners (or equivalent), and 11 insurance departments represented.  These legislator participation numbers represent a new all-time high for an NCOIL Spring Meeting.  NCOIL’s seven policy Committees all met and discussed various critical issues in insurance legislation.

"In my first meeting as President, much was done which laid the groundwork for what I expect will be another very successful year for NCOIL,” said California Assemblyman Ken Cooley.  "We continue to have strong turnouts for our National Meetings – especially the number of first-time legislators.  Overall, this was the most highly attended NCOIL Spring Meeting since 2008.  Now is a tremendous time to be involved with NCOIL and the organization is rightfully being recognized as a top-notch forum for legislators and interested parties to gather, discuss, and debate critical insurance issues.”

NCOIL CEO, Commissioner Tom Considine said, "I continue to be thrilled with the number of first-time legislators attending our meetings.  As an organization principally represented by legislators, term limits and legislators leaving office for different opportunities are things we must constantly contend with, so seeing new faces at our meetings is always great and a positive sign.”  Considine continued, “This Meeting was again extremely productive in terms of serving as an educational forum for legislators and interested parties and developing sound insurance public policy that legislators can take back to their states for review and introduction."

The Joint State-Federal Relations & International Insurance Issues Committee, chaired by Minnesota Senator Paul Utke, met on Friday morning and adopted two Resolutions, both sponsored by Asm. Cooley: Resolution in Support of the People and Government of Ukraine; and Resolution Supporting Independent Contractor Status for Insurance Agents and Other Licensed Financial Professions.  The Committee also heard from Loren Adler, Associate Director at the USC-Brookings Schaeffer Initiative for Health Policy on the implementation of the new federal balance billing law – The No Surprises Act – and from Andrew Biggs, Ph.D., Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute on the status and future of the social security system.

The Workers' Compensation Insurance Committee, chaired by Ohio Senator Bob Hackett, followed and it heard presentations on “Workers’ Compensation in the Post-COVID Era” from Matthew Zender, SVP, WC Strategy at Amtrust North America, and Monica Verduzco-Gutierrez, M.D., Professor and Chair of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.  The Committee also re-adopted the Model State Structured Settlement Protection Act until its next meeting in July during which amendments to the Model will be discussed and considered.

The Institutes Griffith Foundation also hosted a legislator luncheon during which Michael Leonard, Ph.D., CBE, Vice President & Senior Economist at the Insurance Information Institute and Adjunct Faculty at Columbia University and New York University, delivered a presentation titled “Inflation: Implications for Insurers and Public Policymakers.”

A very productive NCOIL-NAIC Dialogue, chaired by Asm. Kevin Cahill (NY) – NCOIL Vice President – was then held which included an impressive lineup of NAIC representatives: Idaho Director and NAIC President Dean Cameron, Connecticut Commissioner and NAIC Vice President Andrew Mais, Arkansas Commissioner Alan McClain, Montana Commissioner Troy Downing, Oklahoma Commissioner Glen Mulready, and Utah Commissioner Jon Pike. The Dialogue included discussions of State adoption of the NAIC Credit for Reinsurance Models, the NAIC Special Committee on Race and Insurance, proposed changes to the NAIC Climate Risk Disclosure Survey, and enhanced cash surrender value endorsements and their interaction with the Standard Nonforfeiture Law.

The Dialogue was followed by a general session titled “The Search for a Successful Public Option.”  Panelists were: Liz Hagan, Director of Policy Solutions at United States of Care; Sally Pipes, President & CEO at the Pacific Research Institute; Adam Fox, Deputy Director at the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative; Amber Stidham, VP of Government Affairs at the Henderson Chamber of Commerce; and Nevada Senator Fabian Donate.

The day concluded with the Life Insurance & Financial Planning Committee meeting, chaired by Asw. Maggie Carlton (NV), which discussed development of a Paid Family Medical Leave Insurance Model Act, and life insurer perspectives on COVID-19 developments.  The Committee also re-adopted the Secondary Addressee Model Act, and the Insurance Compliance Self-Privilege Model Act.

The following day began with a meeting of the Property & Casualty Insurance Committee, chaired by Kentucky Representative Bart Rowland.  The Committee: heard a presentation from Arity on how telematics can turn mobility and driver data into meaningful behavioral insights; discussed the development of an NCOIL Delivery Network Company (DNC) Model Act; discussed the NCOIL Insurance Underwriting Transparency Model Act, sponsored by Rep. Matt Lehman (IN), NCOIL Immediate Past President; and continued discussions on state efforts to lower the uninsured motorist population.  Lastly, Asm. Cahill announced his intent to sponsor and have the first draft of an NCOIL model act governing the use of dog breed information in insurance underwriting prepared for introduction at the Committee’s next meeting in July.

Rep. Rowland said, “I’m proud to serve as Chair of this Committee during what is my last year in the legislature.  I’ve really enjoyed working with everyone on important issues.  As always, this Committee is very busy, and we have a lot of work to do by year’s end.  I’m confident we’ll get there and end up with sound policy that can guide states in developing state law.”

Another general session followed which focused on the interrelationship between climate change and insurance.  Panelists were: Connecticut Commissioner Andrew Mais; Sean Kevlighan, CEO of the Insurance Information Institute; Stefan Holzberger, Senior Managing Director & Chief Rating Officer at AM Best; Rich Sorkin, Co-founder & CEO of Jupiter Intelligence; and Dr. Joanne Leovy, Nevada State Medical Association Delegate to the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health.

Nevada Attorney General Aaron D. Ford delivered an uplifting Keynote Address at Saturday’s luncheon.  Attorney General Ford is the first African American to hold statewide constitutional office in Nevada.  Before his election, Attorney General Ford served as the Majority Leader of the Nevada State Senate, and held a number of other Senate leadership positions.

The Financial Services & Multi-Lines Issues Committee then met and heard a presentation from Azish Filabi, Executive Director of the Maguire Center for Ethics and Associate Professor & Charles Lamont Post Chair of Business Ethics, and Sophia Duffy, Associate Professor of Business Planning, both from The American College of Financial Services, titled “AI-Enabled Underwriting Brings New Challenges for Insurance: Policy and Regulatory Considerations.”

The Committee also decided to move forward with the development of an NCOIL Insurance Regulatory Sandbox Model Act, sponsored by Rep. Bart Rowland (KY), Rep. Wendi Thomas (PA), and Rep. Tom Oliverson, M.D. (TX) – NCOIL Treasurer.  Further, the Committee heard a presentation on changes to certain laws to provide more flexibility in electronically delivering insurance documents, and announced its intent to likely a submit a comment letter to S&P Global Ratings regarding its proposed changes to how it rates insurance companies.

The Health Insurance & Long-Term Care Issues Committee, chaired by New York Assemblywoman Pamela Hunter, met on Sunday morning and continued discussions on the 340B drug pricing program.  The Committee heard from Hopewell Health Centers, Mountain Health Network, PhRMA, the National Association of Community Health Centers, and 340B Health.  Asw. Hunter announced that the continued discussion of the 340B drug pricing program will be transferred to the Joint State-Federal Relations & International Insurance Issues Committee.

The Health Committee also heard from Steve Landers, M.D., MPH, President & CEO of the Visiting Nurse Association (VNA) Health Group, who discussed lessons learned from COVID-19 and preparing of the next pandemic, and from representatives from America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) who discussed the unfunded mandate of COVID-19 testing, and developments in value-based care.  Further, the Committee re-adopted five model laws: Model Act Regarding Air Ambulance Insurance Claims; Out-of-Network Balance Billing Transparency Model Act; Patient Safety Model Act; Rental Network Contract Arrangements Model Act; and Model Act Banning Fee Schedules for Uncovered Dental Services.

Lastly, Asw. Hunter announced her intent to start the development of a model law governing health insurance coverage for biomarker testing for the purposes of diagnosing, treating, managing, or ongoing monitoring of a covered person's disease or condition.  Asw. Hunter has introduced A09149 in New York which will serve as the starting point for the NCOIL model law.

Asw. Hunter said, “The Committee’s meeting in Las Vegas was very productive and set the stage for what will be yet another busy year.  I’m looking forward to working with everyone, particularly on my biomarker testing model law as it deals with such a critical consumer-protection centered issue.”

The Meeting concluded with the Executive Committee’s meeting which adopted all of the administration and policy Committee reports, and also adopted a Resolution in Honor of NCOIL Past President Representative George Keiser (ND) who passed away late last year after courageously battling ALS the past several years.  The Resolution will be sent to Rep. Keiser’s family along with comment letters in honor of Rep. Keiser and in support of the Resolution.

“Rep. Keiser, our friend and colleague George, helped all his NCOIL colleagues better grasp how small nuances of bill drafting could yield big outcomes.  We will all miss him immensely,” stated NCOIL President Asm. Ken Cooley.

"It is truly a great honor to serve as NCOIL President.  The organization has steadily improved the past several years in terms of its national recognition, scope, and importance, and all signs point to another tremendous year,” said Asm. Cooley.  “I’m looking forward to meeting again in Jersey City in July where we can all share our perspectives from our legislatures and constituents, develop model laws, and preserve the proven state-based system of insurance regulation."

Committee meeting minutes will be posted soon at www.ncoil.org.

The 2022 NCOIL Summer Meeting is scheduled to take place in Jersey City, NJ at the Hyatt Regency from July 13^th – 16^th.  Registration will open in April.