Sean Shaw: Floridians deserve full, fair regulations on insurance companies

BlackRock introduces new retirement program

Planning for the future is a lifelong endeavor — even under the best of circumstances.

Today, it can seem impossible. Stagnant wages, rising health care costs, and lack of affordable housing put financial pressure on more Floridians every single day. Consumers who want reliable financial tools for themselves and their loved ones deserve as many affordable options as possible.

Today, those options are under direct threat from the very regulators who are supposed to stand with consumers to protect them from large, profitable companies who use their power to drive profits at the expense of consumers’ financial security.

For many families, life insurance is the one tool they can count on to provide financial security. People who hold life insurance plans understand how important they are. They exist to provide stability after a tragedy, a disaster or an unimaginable loss.

Forbes reports that nearly 70% of Americans with life insurance policies feel financially secure, while fewer than half of those without life insurance feel the same. After the death of a primary wage earner, nearly half (44%) of Americans say they would feel a financial burden within six months.

Without life insurance, seniors might not be able to live independently at home, and parents might not be able to put food on the table for their kids.

When I served as Florida’s Insurance Consumer Advocate, I fought for consumers and championed equal rights and equal opportunity for all. I’ve seen what big insurers will do to pad their profits at the expense of our families, workers and retirees; and while their latest scheme comes as no surprise, it’s critical that our leaders stop it in its tracks.

MetLife, Prudential and other big insurance companies are using their influence within the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), which develops policies and regulations that are then adopted at the state level, to steamroll their competitors and consumers at the same time.

In April, the big corporations that control more than half of the life insurance market asked the NAIC to adopt a new policy that would not apply to them but would amount to a 50% penalty on smaller insurers that create competition, provide options to consumers and drive down prices.

When the big insurers say jump, the NAIC said: “How high?”

The penalty was adopted by an NAIC committee in a matter of days.

MetLife, Prudential and other major insurers got exactly what they wanted: a recommendation that their competitors be forced to carry higher capital charges, which is essentially a cash-on-hand requirement for insurance companies that invest their capital. That penalty would mean fewer companies competing with the big insurers, fewer plans on the market and higher costs for Floridians.

If the new penalty advances to a final vote of the NAIC membership — insurance commissioners from around the country — it will then be adopted by those commissioners in the states they serve.

Michael Yaworsky, who was appointed to lead the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation by Gov. Ron DeSantis, has an obligation to stand up for Florida consumers over big businesses.

The final verdict from the NAIC will likely be close and his vote could be decisive in protecting consumers and telling big insurers that their attempt to collude with regulators to give themselves more power and more profits is unacceptable.

Planning for an uncertain future is hard enough as it is without the most powerful companies in the marketplace manipulating the rules for their gain and meddling in our personal financial choices. Floridians deserve as many affordable options as possible so they can make the best decision about how to protect their families and plan for the future.

Commissioner Yaworsky must reject the attempts to single out certain life insurers for costly, harmful penalties that will only hurt Floridians in the end.

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Sean Shaw is the former Florida Insurance Consumer Advocate, an independent watchdog for the public, and is currently a member of the Democratic National Committee. He is the founder of People Over Profits, a nonprofit organization dedicated to standing against corporate influence and fighting for the rights of everyday people.