Insurers Brace for Impact as Election Season Moves into High Gear
Federal and state elections due to take place in less than four weeks could have a huge impact on insurers — and potentially none more so than the race for the presidency…
He was joined by two co-panelists: Jerry Theodorou, policy director for finance, insurance and trade at think tank R Street Institute, and Frank Kelly, a senior political strategist at asset manager DWS.
Regulatory Changes on the Horizon
Theodorou of R Street Institute said that if Trump wins the presidency, several agencies — the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Federal Insurance Office — could have their powers curtailed.
The CFPB, championed by Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has voiced concerns about the potential conflicts of interest arising from life insurers and their distributors offering cash awards, cruises, vacations, and other incentives to agents, brokers, field marketing organizations, and other distributors involved in selling annuity products.
Theodorou also highlighted a dichotomy in the current election season: The orientations of the candidates have departed from party orthodoxy, where Republicans historically opposed regulations and Democrats prioritized consumer protections. Republicans now head up a populist party and Democrats have become the party of big business, he said.
On one issue, however, the positions of Trump and Harris administrations might converge: their continued backing of Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan. She has increased scrutiny of mergers and acquisitions, focused on anticompetitive practices, emphasized the agency’s role in protecting consumers against unfair and deceptive trade practices, and spoken of the need for stronger data privacy regulations.
Harris’s continued backing of Khan is to be expected, given the already close working relationship between the two. But Kelly expressed surprise at statements of support for Kahn by Trump’s running mate, J.D. Vance.
“This is not what they were expecting,” he said of corporate backers of the GOP ticket. “So, there’s this shifting and melding together [of positions among the candidates] that I think would very likely impact the insurance sector.”
Commissioner Contests
Theodorou of R Street Institute highlighted upcoming insurance commissioner elections, including in Delaware, North Dakota, North Carolina and Washington State. In the last of these, current commissioner Mike Kreidler, a Democrat, is stepping down after a troubled term during which his office suffered from “some toxic atmosphere issues,” Theodorou said…
In North Carolina, GOP incumbent Mike Causey, who lost his dual position as the state’s fire marshal last January following passage of the state budget, “made some enemies in the Republican Party,” Theodorou said. Democratic challenger and State Senator Natasha Marcus said that Causey approved 16 consecutive rates hikes sought by homeowner insurers — an additional 42.2% average rate increase is under discussion — after meeting privately with carriers, NC Newsline reported Tuesday.
“That’s one to watch,” Theodorou said of the North Carolina race.
Turning to Congressional elections, Theodorou said that leadership of seats overseeing insurance matters are up grabs. In the Senate, Banking Committee Democratic chairman Sherrod Brown is being outspent in Ohio by Republican opponent Bernie Moreno. In the House, Congressman Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, heads up the Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance and, according to Theodorou, knows the industry well.
If the House remains under Republican control, “there’ll be continued opportunity for Davidson and others to assert themselves,” he said.