NAIC cancels in-person spring meeting due to coronavirus concerns

The state regulator group will move the proceedings to a virtual format.

The NAIC posted this cancellation notice on its website today.

The rumors that were spreading Tuesday were true: The National Association of Insurance Commissioners is canceling the in-person version of its spring national meeting due to concerns about the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes COVID-19 pneumonia.

The Kansas City, Missouri-based regulator group was preparing to start the meeting on March 2, 2020, in Phoenix.

Mike Consedine, the NAIC’s chief executive officer, said today in a tweet that the NAIC will be moving the meeting proceedings to a virtual format.

“The important work will continue, but we’ll now have to work smarter and safer,” Consedine said in the tweet. “Like it or not, just as 9/11 did, #coronavirus has forever changed the world we live and work in.”

The NAIC already holds many meetings through teleconferences.

The NAIC outlined the following virtual session schedule:

The NAIC is a group for state insurance regulators. Its members are the top insurance regulators from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories.

The NAIC’s Financial Stability Task Force, for example, has been preparing to get an update on the work of a subgroup that’s trying to develop insurance company liquidity stress testing tools.

The Long-Term Care Insurance Task Force is looking at matters such as standards for the notices that go out to LTCI policyholders who are getting a choice between accepting low benefits or much higher premiums.

A Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act Working Group will be hearing efforts by regulators in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island to enforce mental health care and substance use disorder coverage parity standards.

See also:

For more coronavirus news, visit our Instant Insights page, “The coronavirus and its impact.”