Moreover, McKay notes that PCI is urging “swift confirmation of Roy Woodall as the FSOC insurance expert this fall.”

McKay also says PCI will be closely monitoring developments at the international regulatory level as the Financial Stability Board, an international body, and the International Association of Insurance Supervisors continue to deliberate over G-SIFI metrics and designations. G-SIFI stands for globally systemically important financial institutions.

Charles Symington, senior vice president, government affairs, for the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (IIABA), says a priority for his association is achieving a legislative or regulatory solution “to the detrimental impact the MLR (medical loss ratio) issue has had on agents and the consumers they serve.”

He says that since the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) implemented the regulation imposing the MLR, some agents have seen up to a 50 percent cut in compensation in some areas of the country.

This was confirmed in a Government Accountability Office survey released earlier this week.

“The role agents play in standing with the consumer throughout the life of each policy is more important now than ever, and that role is being threatened by the new MLRs,” Symington says.

He states that passage of H.R. 1206, sponsored by Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., and John Barrow, D-Ga., would provide a solution by excluding agent compensation from the MLR formula.

Under the MLR—part of the healthcare reform law—insurance companies must limit administrative costs to 15 percent of large group plan premiums and 20 percent of small group and individual plan premiums. Agents have been pushing to exclude their commissions from these limited administrative costs.

“The IIABA will continue to work on a dual track by building support for passage of H.R. 1206, meanwhile requesting that HHS work with the NAIC to implement a regulatory solution,” Symington says.

He also says that the IIABA will be “actively working” to ensure that the newly created Federal Insurance Office (FIO), “which has no regulatory authority over the insurance industry,” remains true to its intended purpose.

“It is important that the FIO not experience any 'mission creep', or intrude on the day-to-day business of insurance,” Symington says.

On behalf of the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, Matt Gannon, assistant vice president of federal affairs, says the trade group will urge Congress this fall to move promptly to mandate strong building codes.

Gannon specifically mentions H.R. 2069, the Safe Building Codes Incentive Act.

He says this would offer the opportunity for additional federal assistance in the aftermath of a natural catastrophe to those states that have acted to prevent loss of life and property by enacting strong building codes.

“As the East Coast recovers from an earthquake and prepares for a hurricane,” he said in advance of Hurricane Irene's landfall, “we are again reminded that natural catastrophes can strike at any time and any place.”