Tennessee Becomes 30th Member of the Interstate Compact

The movement to improve insurance regulation reached a milestone in May when Tennessee became the 30th state to join the interstate compact for product approval.

The goal of the compact is to improve speed-to-market conditions for life, annuity, long-term care and disability income products. The compact will allow companies to file new products for approval with one state-based entity -- the Interstate Compact Commission -- for sale in every state that enacts the compact law, rather than filing products separately state-by-state.

NAIFA and its state associations have pressed for the compact’s adoption nationwide so that innovative products satisfying high uniform standards will be available sooner for agents to offer their clients.

With the recent addition of Tennessee, 30 states have embraced the compact, representing half of the national premium volume for the covered products. Compact legislation has also been pending or introduced in eight other states this year.

As the leading associations representing agents selling all the products covered by the compact, NAIFA and AHIA are the only producer representatives on the compact commission’s insurance industry advisory committee. As members of the industry advisory committee, NAIFA and AHIA ensure that the agent viewpoint is heard. The compact commission is currently developing operating procedures for product filings and appropriate standards for the review of various life products. The commission will be meeting this week in conjunction with the summer national meeting of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). We look forward to seeing the compact commission accept its first product filings before year end.

NAIFA hopes the compact will become law in every state to make product speed-to-market a reality for all agents and their clients. NAIFA members are urged to support the compact if it’s introduced in their state, and to ask their insurance commissioners and state legislators to introduce the compact if it’s not yet on their legislative agenda.

You can learn more about the compact at www.naifa.org/irr.

Back to June 1, 2007, NAIFA Frontline