Another Step In Federal Control Of Workers Comp
Workers Comp Federal Control takes another step. Recently, a bill was passed by the House that establishes a Federal Insurance Office (FIO) for international insurance transactions. As I had predicted numerous times in the last few months, the insurance – and in turn – Workers Compensation insurance landscape is slowly but radically changing.
In a large % of phone consultations that I perform for our investor clients, I am often asked what major development would change the “playing field” for Workers Comp over the next seven to ten years. I always answer that the slow but steady progression of the government’s attempt to regulate insurance almost makes any forecasting by me nearly impossible after five years into the future.
The Professional Insurance Agents Association (PIA) has commented that they are very concerned the bill would allow proponents of federalizing insurance to advance their agendas. I could not agree more. As we all know, federalizing any type of insurance would lead to more paperwork, control, and inefficiencies.
The first business conducted by FIO would be a study of federal insurance regulation. This seems to be a conflict of interest as the FIO itself is in the position of recommending to Congress whether the power to regulate insurance should be removed from the states and made into another federal bureaucracy. My concern is that if any government agency produces a report that justifies it existence and allows expansion, the report may be biased towards expanding its duties.
Can you already see the results of the report? I can.
Update – As of today, nothing has really been heard from the FIO on workers compensation insurance matters. The FIO has stayed under the radar with any of its efforts to expand any type of federal control.
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