New Group Will "Shadow" Insurance Regulators: Committee Urges Price Deregulation, Better Catastrophic Insurance Option

By CEI Staff [1]

February 28, 1999

Washington, D.C., March 1, 1999 – The Shadow Insurance Regulation Committee held its first meeting today at the office of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI). Formed to increase the awareness and understanding of the importance of private insurance, the Committee presented several statements of consensus, including an opening statement of principles, endorsement of repeal of prior approval regulation of rate changes, and recommendations for the efficient management of catastrophic risk.

The Committee consists of academic insurance experts who will meet periodically to discuss the problems facing private insurance and develop possible solutions. The members are:

James Garven, William H. Wright, Jr. Endowed Chair for Financial Services at the Louisiana State University College of Business Administration, and chairman of the Shadow Committee;

Martin Grace, Associate Director and Research Associate at the Center for Risk Management and Insurance Research at Georgia State University;

Scott Harrington, Professor of Insurance and Finance and Francis M. Hipp Distinguished Faculty Fellow in the College of Business Administration at the University of South Carolina;

Robert Klein, Associate Professor of Risk Management and Insurance and Director of the Center for Risk Management and Insurance Research at Georgia State University.

The purpose of the Committee is to examine current industry trends that concern the competitive operation of insurance markets, to evaluate and comment on policy responses to insurance problems, to draw greater attention to public policy issues in insurance regulation, and to help develop and recommend market-oriented policy initiatives that enhance insurance markets. The Committee will hold two public meetings each year to alert the media, policy makers, insurance officials, and insurance consumers to their findings.

CEI, a non-profit, non-partisan public policy group founded in 1984, is dedicated to the principles of free enterprise and limited government. For more information, contact Emily McGee, director of media relations, at 202-331-1010. CEI sponsors Shadow Committee activities, but the recommendations of the group are its own. The committee’s statements are included in this mailing.