National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies Joins in Support for COVID-19 Business and Employee Continuity and Recovery Fund

INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana, April 1 -- The National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies issued the following news release:

The National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies joined with a coalition of American industries to call for the creation of a COVID-19 Business and Employee Continuity and Recovery Fund. Patterned after a federal assistance fund to help recovery after 9/11, the COVID-19 fund would provide assistance directly to businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and their employees.

"The coronavirus has struck our nation and the world in an unprecedented way, significantly affecting nearly every aspect of the economy, including mutual insurance companies, in communities across the country," said Charles Chamness, president and CEO of NAMIC. "The rescue of our economy is beyond the abilities of any one company or industry, and that's why NAMIC supports the creation of a COVID-19 Business and Employee Continuity and Recovery Fund to swiftly provide assistance directly to those who need it."

The groups called for the creation of the fund, which would be overseen by a federal administrator with significant oversight, in a letter to President Donald Trump and congressional leaders.

"Mutual insurance companies have been serving their policyholder-members since 1752, through war and peace, boom and bust," Chamness said. "We know when things seem at their worst, Americans are at their best, and we will recover from this crisis."