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NAMIC Commends New York Insurance Department Effort to Reform Rate and Form Filing Procedures

INDIANAPOLIS (June 28, 2010) The National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies today commended the New York Insurance Department for its work to reform insurance rate and form filing practices and procedures.

“NAMIC has long recognized that insurers and consumers alike benefit from a streamlined regulatory process that promotes competition by allowing insurers to innovate, introduce new products and product enhancements to market, and respond quickly to changing marketplace conditions,” Northeast State Affairs Manager Paul Tetrault asserted in testimony presented during a hearing at the department. “Both academic analyses and experience in other states show that under competitive market conditions, moving away from prior approval to less restrictive processes such as file and use benefits insurers and consumers alike by enhancing competition.”

In his testimony, Tetrault cited comments made by Superintendent James Wrynn shortly after he took office last year regarding his intent to launch an initiative to streamline filing processes. Since then, Tetrault noted, “there has been a significant amount of work done by industry representatives and department staff to identify specific problems in the filing review process and propose meaningful solutions to solving those problems.”

In addition to offering general commendation for the work of the department on its initiative, NAMIC specifically endorsed the concept of expanding the scope of file and use methodology and recommended that the department’s reform initiative be made a permanent effort. “If the initiative is viewed as one that is done once some goal is reached, even if it results in a significant procedural improvement, its gains could be lost over time as new developments add delay or complications to the filing review process,” Tetrault said. “However, if the initiative were institutionalized, such as by establishing standing panels of industry representatives and key department staff to work on communication and process improvement on a continual basis, its gains can serve as the foundation for additional improvements going forward.”

For further information, contact
Lisa Floreancig
Communications Director
(317) 875-8250 Tel
lfloreancig@namic.org