Dear NAIFA Member,

It is a privilege to say Happy New Year to the members of the oldest, largest financial services association in the country. I wanted to take a few moments to catch you up on what’s going on at NAIFA as the New Year begins. This will be Part 1 of a 2-part letter. Health bills have passed but the debate and the hard work to make the bills less onerous and more beneficial to our members and the consumers of health care is still quite intense. So, Part 1 will be concerned only with health care reform.

The New Year begins with Congressional melding of the House and Senate-passed health reform bills into one piece of legislation. NAIFA remains focused on the twin goals of maintaining a meaningful role for insurance agents in any new system that Congress may construct and providing actual benefit to clients served by NAIFA members.

The House and Senate bills are vastly different. The Senate bill (see the Dec. 30 GovWatch) includes a number of NAIFA-initiated improvements, as does the House bill. NAIFA’s reform goals have been and continue to be, to keep our members in play as part of the best delivery system for health care and ensuring affordable coverage to all Americans. Simultaneously, NAIFA is actively at work, on its own and within a broad coalition to lessen problems NAIFA sees down the road in both bills.

Our government relations structure has positioned NAIFA well to accomplish our goals. NAIFA’s Washington-based lobbying team is able to project the power of NAIFA member constituent lobbying back home with members of Congress. In addition, IFAPAC and War Chest dollars act as a force multiplier for NAIFA’s legislative efforts. But, continual funding and back-home relationship building are urgently needed.

I want to address a question that has been posed by more than a few NAIFA members. Namely, why doesn’t NAIFA just oppose the Congressional health care reform effort? It’s a good question. Just as good, I suppose, as the one posed by a significant number of NAIFA members who ask why NAIFA doesn’t support a government-run plan.

The answer begins with a thorough understanding of the political process—and elections. We had one two Novembers ago. Elections have consequences. We are living with the consequences of those elections today. Despite multiple opinion polls that indicate the majority of Americans oppose many aspects of the House and Senate plans, despite opposition from small and big business, and from employer groups, the majority in Congress currently appears determined to enact “something”. This could change of course, but until it does NAIFA has a choice: Be an active player, doing all it can to make that “something” a program that works as well as possible for NAIFA members and for our fellow citizens. Or not. That’s a choice we face every day in our own businesses. I, for one, choose to be active.

I am proud that NAIFA has made these two bills better. NAIFA has won a number of important improvements for its members and the public. Preserving agent market-based compensation for health insurance sold through Exchanges and adding a provision to retain the limited anti-trust exemption under McCarran Ferguson for the Health Insurance Industry in the Senate version are just two of the many NAIFA victories. With your support, additional gains are still within reach. So stay tuned for GovAlerts. If you are not an IFAPAC contributor, it’s time to become one. Or to increase your contribution level if you are already a contributor. Oh, and a new member or two wouldn’t hurt!

In closing, NAIFA continues to fight the good fight for the interests of our members. The health care debate is only one of many issues where NAIFA’s government relations impact is making a difference for you. Our value proposition is strong and getting stronger. More about that next time.

All the best for a profitable and productive 2010.

Sincerely,

Thomas D. Currey, CLU, ChFC, LUTCF
NAIFA President

This email is brought to you by NAIFA

To unsubscribe, please contact membersupport@naifa.org for assistance.

NAIFA uses member email addresses only for the purpose of informing members of our news and programs. We do not sell member email addresses to other organizations. See NAIFA's Privacy Policy at www.naifa.org/privacy.cfm