One reason I am skeptical about the latest efforts to impose federal regulation on the insurance industry is that I have lived through this debate many times over the years, and have yet to be convinced of the wisdom of moving authority over to Uncle Sam.

About 20 years ago, I tagged along with a group of New York agents during a lobbying trek to Washington. The chief topic was–what else?–federal regulation! We sat down with Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, the ever-calculating Republican, who shook his head in dismay as his constituents made their case to leave state oversight alone.

Noting that an insurer group had recently pleaded for federal oversight, the senator lamented that if the industry could not agree on how it wanted to be regulated, how was he supposed to decide what was best? (He also hated the idea of placating one industry sector at the expense of another, when he depended on both for campaign contributions.)