Several state commissioners of insurance have sent letters to Congress opposing or expressing grave concerns about the Insurance Information Act of 2008 (H.R. 5840). Maine Superintendent of Insurance Mila Kofman said in a letter also signed by Maine Attorney General G. Steven Rowe that H.R. 5840 could “fundamentally erode” state insurance regulation.

In a letter to Congress, Nevada Insurance Commissioner Alice Molasky-Arman said the Insurance Information Act of 2008 (H.R. 5840) would disrupt the insurance marketplace in Nevada and place the state’s insurance consumers at risk. Wisconsin Insurance Commissioner Sean Dilweg sent a letter to Congress expressing opposition to H.R. 5840. In it, he says the bill grants the U.S. Treasury Secretary new powers to substitute his views of insurance regulation for the laws and policies of the states, and do so in an unaccountable manner.

Ohio Insurance Director Mary Jo Hudson, in a letter to fellow regulators dated June 25, warned of inadequate steps to defend the state-based system. “I am concerned that if we do not come together to find practical advocacy solutions that will protect consumers in all of our states — right now — we will merely be standing on the sidelines while states are stripped of their authority to oversee their insurance markets and protect their residents,” she wrote.

September 10, 2008