National Association of Insurance Commissioners Calls on Congress to Eliminate Treasury’s Federal Insurance Office
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a letter to congressional leaders, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) called for the elimination of the Federal Insurance Office, the Treasury Department’s office tasked with monitoring the insurance industry, and identifying regulatory gaps in the patchwork of state-by-state regulatory framework for insurance. In response, Carly Fabian, senior insurance policy advocate with Public Citizen’s Climate Program, issued the following statement:
“The NAIC’s letter to Congress is wildly out of touch with the unfolding home insurance crisis. Insurance markets are melting down around the country, and the failures of state insurance regulators are on full display. Rather than respond to, or even acknowledge, the crisis, the NAIC is obsessively focused on attacking the Treasury Department’s narrow authority to collect data, study insurance markets, and make recommendations. As wildfires rage across the country, state regulators should be focused on doing their jobs, not trying to prevent the federal government from conducting surveys and generating sorely needed ideas.
“NAIC’s attacks on FIO will not hide the fact that the NAIC and its members do not have any credible plan to address the impacts of climate change. It’s no surprise that the same regulators and legislators leading a charge to abolish FIO are struggling with home insurance crises in their states. Homeowners at risk of losing their insurance should be outraged to hear that some of the same regulators who are supposed to protect them are busy attacking efforts to learn more about the problem and generate solutions.”
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