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America’s insurance commissioners still pursuing bad investment charges that EU is scrapping
Last month, a significant development took place in Europe that so far has not been widely reported in the US, even though it will likely…
Blog
Why are America’s insurance commissioners trying to import harmful European rules?
With high prices and the threat of recession looming over America’s economy, another threat is emerging. Influential policymakers overseeing the U.S. insurance industry are on…
Blog
Free the Economy Episode 8: Crypto and ESG with Jennifer Schulp
Welcome back to the Free the Economy podcast. In this week’s episode we talk about the cultural impact of Super Bowl ads,…
Search Posts
Op-Eds
Coastal Insurance Reforms a Good Start
When he took office at the beginning the year, Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin set his sights on North Carolina’s broken coastal insurance system. Now…
Blog
Matt Taibbi versus Sensible Health Care
In a blog post at Rolling Stone, Journalist In Name Only Matt Taibbi accuses the media of “help[ing] sandbag health care reform.” In the…
Newsletter
EPA’s Illegal Rule, Junk Food Lawsuits and Hurricane Preparedness
The Environmental Protection Agency moves to limit greenhouse gas restrictions to only large industrial sources. Anti-obesity campaigners agitate for taxes and legal restrictions on foods…
Citation
CEI’s Lehrer Writes Congress to Support Increased CU Biz Lending
News Release
CEI Reacts to ‘Florida Preparedness Month’
Newsletter
Cybersecurity, Consumer Snitching and an Insurance Downgrade
A new bill to would give the White House “cybersecurity emergency” powers. Consumer Reports magazine turns a high-performing showerhead over to the EPA for exceeding…
News Release
CEI Responds to Tower Hill Rating Downgrade
The Competitive Enterprise Institute, a free market think tank, reacted to A.M. Best’s rating downgrade of Tower Hill Insurance Companies and Tower Hills’ subsequent decision…
Op-Eds
Obama Keeps Lying About Health Care, Even After Being Caught
You just can’t trust President Obama’s claims about his health-care plan. He keeps on lying even after he is caught lying and his lies…
Blog
Ted Kennedy’s Deregulatory Legacy on Airlines and Trucking
Tributes are pouring in for Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy, who lost his battle with brain cancer late Tuesday evening at the age of 77.
Blog
CEI’s RRM Suggests Additional Questions for Florida Insurance Commissioner
Yesterday in a press release from CEI's Center for Risk, Regulation, and Markets, the Center raised many questions that should be brought to Florida Insurance…
Newsletter
Healthcare Complexity, Union Politics and Insurance Markets
Critics question the unwieldy complexity of current healthcare legislation. A compromise version of the so-called “Employee Free Choice Act” gains momentum in Congress. Florida Rep.
Op-Eds
Government Run-Health Coops Would be Different
Re: "The insurance co-op is already in your neighborhood," Aug. 19 State Farm is an admirably run insurer, but its structure may…
News Release
CEI Suggests Questions for Florida Insurance Commissioner
Scholars at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a free market think tank, today urged Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty to accept Rep. Scott Plakon’s invitation to…
Study
Principles for Property Mitigation Discounts
Legislators should be wary of efforts to mandate specific mitigation discounts without paying attention to the myriad other factors that can play a major role…
Citation
Closing Reinsurance Tax Loophole Proposed in Congress
Citation
Regulators Tangle With Think Tank Over Fla. Market Picture
Newsletter
The Future of Coal, Rose Friedman and Florida Insurance
Environmental activists try to shut down and limit the use of coal-fired power plants. Economist and author Rose Friedman dies at age 98. Florida’s insurance…
Blog
Legal Experts and Civil Rights Commission Attack Obama Health-Care Plan As Unconstitutional
Constitutional law professor Rob Natelson argues that Obama’s health-care plan is unconstitutional in four different ways. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights…
Citation
State Farm Wants to Make More Money From Florida
News Release
CEI Critiques FL. Commissioner McCarty’s Insurance Report
CEI CRITIQUES FL. COMMISSIONER MCCARTY’S INSURANCE REPORT “The Same Misinformation in a New Package” TALLAHASSEE, August 17, 2009 – Florida Office of Insurance Regulation…
Blog
Tim Carney on State-Level Insurance Protectionism
In one regulated area of the economy after another, it’s exasperating to hear journalists and pundits claim that, “The market has failed,” when in fact…
Citation
Florida Lawmaker Rips Insurance Commissioner, Vows to Bring Back Rate Deregulation Bill
Op-Eds
Insurance Against Terrorism
After hijackers destroyed the World Trade Center on 9/11, taxpayers ended up spending a lot of money to aid the injured, rebuild public infrastructure, improve…
Citation
Insurance Against Terrorism
Op-Eds
Limited Government Role Seen in Tackling Catastrophe Risks
Q: What role should the federal government play in setting natural catastrophe policy? The federal government certainly has a role to play…
Op-Eds
Overhaul State’s Mitigation-Discount System
State Farm’s decision to reduce government-mandated mitigation discounts seems severe. But it’s unlikely the company would have made it — and dealt with the…
News Release
Think tank questions denial of State Farm mitigation discount rate filing request
The Florida Insurance Project of the Competitive Enterprise Institute today questioned state insurance regulators’ decision to deny State Farm’s request to reduce mandatory discounts for…
Newsletter
Microhoo Scrutiny, Terrorism Insurance and Cooling Global Temperatures
Microsoft and Yahoo face antitrust scrutiny for their recently announced 10-year search agreement. The White House proposes scaling back a federal…
News Release
CEI Announces Second Annual ‘Out of the Storm’ Conference on Insurance Reform
The Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for Risk, Regulation, and Markets (RRM) announced today that they will be co-hosting a conference in New Orleans along with…
Citation
Neal Reintroduces Offshore Reinsurance Tax Bill
Op-Eds
Health Reform Can’t Copy Auto Insurance
Republicans and Democrats have looked to auto insurance as a model for reforming an expensive health care system that leaves millions without coverage and…
Newsletter
Apple under Investigation, CEO Pay Limits and Hurricane Safety
The Federal Communications Commission investigates Apple and AT&T over the decision to spurn Google Voice on the iPhone. The House of Representatives passes a bill…
Citation
Bermuda Insurers Hit Back at Controversial Neal Bill
Citation
Changing Winds Aim at Insurance
Blog
Policy Translated: The Homeowners’ Defense Act
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmzVgg0tpmo 285 234]…
Citation
US Reinsurance Tax Bill Branded “Anti Consumer”
Citation
Pay Me Later
Citation
Bill Closing Tax Loophole for ‘Offshores’ Introduced
News Release
Hurricanes, Dan Rather’s Media Plan and New Insurance Taxes
Global hurricane activity reaches a 30 year low, confounding predictions of more hurricanes caused by global warming. Retired CBS newsreader Dan…
Citation
Beach Houses: Owned by the Rich, Paid for by Everyone
News Release
CEI Blasts Rep. Neal’s Reinsurance Tax Bill
A Senior Fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a free market think tank, today blasted Rep. Richard Neal’s (D-MA) introduction of a bill to impose…
Blog
Obama Health-Care Plan Will Harm People With Insurance, and Raise Taxes, Obama Adviser Says
Obama’s health-care plan is drawing criticism from one of his own advisers, Harvard University’s Martin Feldstein. In today’s Washington Post, Feldstein warns that…
Blog
Dems’ Health Care Bill Looking Weaker by the Day
For the Democrats still supporting the health care overhaul, the blows just keep coming. As if the financial problems I described in a previous…
Blog
Health Insurance Reform: look at what does and doesn’t work already
“One of the methods used by statists to destroy capitalism consists in establishing controls that tie a given industry hand and…
Op-Eds
Protection Is a Team Effort
Floridians, don't let the current lack of hurricane activity lull you into a false sense of security. As a low-lying peninsula jutting out into the…
Blog
Our Colleague Julie Called it “Subprime Healthcare”
I think that about sums it up.
Op-Eds
Auto Insurance Works – So Why Doesn’t Health Insurance
Those looking for solutions to America’s health insurance bills can see a lot to admire in the auto insurance market. Auto coverage purchasers throughout…
Blog
Obama Health-Care Plan Destroys Cheap Health-Care Options, Raises Taxes, Breaks Promises
In 2008, Obama promised not to raise taxes on anyone making less than $250,000 a year. But he is now breaking that promise by…
Letters
Coalition Letter on Optional Federal Chartering
Full Letter Available in Word As Congress moves towards a debate over sweeping reform of the nation’s financial regulations, we urge you to…
Blog
Obama Rejects Reality as “Politics of the Moment,” Embraces Politics of Fear
Listening to President Barack Obama and other top Democrats on the subject of health care, one could be forgiven for thinking commercial medicine itself is…
Blog
House Dems Would Ban New Private Health Insurance
"Except as provided in this paragraph, the individual health insurance issuer offering such coverage does not enroll any individual in such coverage if the first…
Op-Eds
Beach Plan Fix Would Require Another Fix Later
Although thoughts of hurricane season conjure up images of devastated trailer parks, fearsome storm surges, and ruined roads, North Carolina has more to worry…
Study
Free Market Strategies for Insurance Reform
Two major proposals to regulate insurance federally have appeared. The first, the National Insurance Consumer Protection Act. The second proposal stems from the Obama administration.
Blog
Will Climate Thuggery Capture the SEC?
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) may require corporations to assess and disclose the impacts of global warming and climate change policy on their bottom…
Newsletter
Sotomayor in the Senate, The New GM and State Farm in Florida
Judge Sonia Sotomayor prepares for her confirmation hearings in the Senate. A slimmed-down General Motors emerges from bankruptcy. Florida’s insurance commissioner claims to have “a…
Citation
Former National Security Official Champions Bill for National Catastrophe Fund
Blog
“It would be hard to devise a surer formula for economic catastrophe.”
It may not be in a debacle like California’s, but I still find it galling to see my home state of Florida go from being…
Newsletter
Safe Bottled Water, a Second Stimulus and Keeping Government out of Insurance
Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) questions the safety of the U.S. bottled water industry. Officials consider putting together a second stimulus package to follow the $787…
News Release
CEI Questions FL Insurance Commissioner’s ‘gut feeling’ on State Farm
The Florida Office director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Insurance Project today questioned the basis for Commissioner Kevin McCarty’s “gut feeling” that State Farm will…
Op-Eds
Worst Idea of the Year
Later today [1:00 p.m. Thursday 7-9-9] former FEMA administrator James Lee Witt and former Coast Guard head James Loy –America’s two most trusted emergency…
News Release
CEI Questions ProtectingAmerica.org Insurance Study
Analysts at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a free market think tank, criticized protectingamerica.org’s continued advocacy for a federal insurance backstop.
Blog
Ex-CEO Hank Greenberg hits home run against AIG and Spitzer
Once again, the team of politicians and corporate bureaucrats pursuing the witchhunt against former American International Group CEO Maurice "Hank" Greenberg have struck out.
Op-Eds
Washington Post Sells White House Access to Lobbyists
Until it was publicly-exposed, the Washington Post was selling its access to the White House to lobbyists. As Politico reported, “For $25,000 to $250,000,…
News Release
CEI Blasts Klein Hearings On Homeowners’ Defense Act
Contact: Eli Lehrer, 202.615.0586 Christian Camara, 305.608.4300 CEI Blasts Klein Hearings On Homeowners’ Defense Act Plan Would Spend Taxpayer Money…
Citation
Florida Veto Could Send P-C Insurers fleeing, Policy Group Says
Blog
Strange Bedfellows? Maybe Not
Many lawmakers support policies that provide concentrated benefits to their constituents while dispersing the costs among the populace, and insurance policy is no exception. When…
Citation
If Big One Hits, the State Could Go Bankrupt
Newsletter
Energy Taxes, Tap vs. Bottled Water and Gov. Crist’s War on Florida Homeowners
Debate intensifies over the Waxman-Markey climate bill. Minneapolis launches an advertising campaign to persuade residents to drink tap water in stead of bottled water. Florida…
Citation
Crist rejects bill that aimed to lure property insurers to Florida
Citation
State Farm Vows to Leave Fla. as Gov. Crist Vetos Unregulated Rates
Newsletter
Political Science at EPA, Climate Legislation in the House and Consumer Insurance Reform
The Environment Protection Agency suppresses an internal study on global warming for political reasons. The House of Representatives prepares to consider the Waxman-Markey climate bill.
Citation
Greens, libertarians team up
Citation
Crist Vetos Fla. Insurance Deregulation Bill
News Release
CEI Fellow Blasts Florida Governor Crist’s Veto of Consumer Choice Insurance Bill
The head of the insurance project at the Competitive Enterprise Institute attacked Gov. Charlie Crist’s decision to veto the Consumer Choice Insurance Bill.
Blog
Hearings Open on Coercive and Counterproductively Costly Health Care Bill
Congressional Democrats are pushing hard to complete their health care bill before next week’s recess, but their hopes for a quick passage and the…
News Release
CEI Launches Information Site Devoted to National Regulatory Modernization for Insurance
The Competitive Enterprise Institute today announced the formal launch of a new website devoted to news and information about the National Insurance Consumer Protection Act…
News Release
CEI Launches Website Condemning ‘Beach House Bailout’
Washington, D.C., June 19, 2009—The Competitive Enterprise Institute today launched a new website, nobeachhousebailouts.org, offering news and information about legislative proposals in Congress for…
Op-Eds
Accident Chasers
Gov. Charlie Crist might have missed the mark with some of the bills he signed last week, but his Tuesday signing of a ban…
Blog
The $60,000 Obama Health-Care Plan: It’s “Eye-Poppingly” Expensive on a Per-Person Basis
Obama’s health-care proposals will cost well over a trillion dollars, without providing universal coverage. They are so “eye-poppingly” expensive that even Congressional Democrats have…
Op-Eds
How to Start a Trade War: Rep. Neal’s Terrible Plan to Tax Offshore Reinsurance Companies
For much of the last decade, Massachusetts Democrat Richard Neal has banged away at proposals for vast tax increases on "offshore affiliated reinsurance"–coverage that…
Citation
Industry, Consumer Groups Rally For and Against Florida “Consumer Choice” Bill
Comment
Letter to Governor Charlie Crist Regarding HB 1171 “The ‘Consumer Choice’ Bill”
Dear Governor Crist: I am writing to strongly encourage you to sign HB 1171 into law. This bill, rightfully dubbed the “consumer…
Study
National Regulatory Modernization for Insurers
Frequently Asked Questions on Standardizing National Insurance Laws…
Blog
HHS Secretary: Health Insurance Industry Needs Competition… With Government
In an AP interview on Tuesday, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius called for competition in the health insurance market. No, not between…
Citation
Idaho a Good State for Homeowner-Insurance Customers, Survey Says
Citation
Insurance Report Card Gives Louisiana an “F”
News Release
CEI Florida Insurance Director Urges Approval of “Crash Tax” Ban
The Director of the Florida Insurance Project at the Competitive Enterprise Institute today urged Gov. Charlie Crist to sign a bill that would end “crash…
Op-Eds
Bill in Congress Would Make a Bad Situation Worse
As the 2009 hurricane season enters its early weeks, Alabama residents need to check their windows, stock up on non-perishable food and make sure…
Op-Eds
Retirees and Pensions Fuel GM’s Downfall
General Motors has declared bankruptcy as a result of a number of things — bad management, poor products and screwy labor relations. But in…
Op-Eds
An Unnecessary Insurance Burden
As it girds for the busy months of hurricane season, Mississippi has plenty to worry about. Homeowner’s insurance coverage remains difficult to find and…
Citation
Is Now the Time for the Time for the Optional Federal Charter?
Citation
The Best Protection Against Global Warming is Better Hurricane Insurance, says CEI
News Release
New CEI Report Explores Hurricanes, Warming
A new report from the Competitive Enterprise Institute questions alarmist predictions of increased hurricane damage resulting from human-caused global warming. The report recommends that…
Op-Eds
Bad Idea Blowing an Ill Wind for Insured
The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association has ended up at the brink of insolvency paying Hurricane Ike claims. Insurers operating near the coasts have begun…
Study
Hurricane Damage and Global Warming
How bad could it get and what can we do about it today?…
Blog
How to Stop Another GM: Abolish Pensions
GM, of course, declared bankruptcy today. A number of things—bad management, poor products and screwy labor relations—hurt the company. But in the…
Citation
Congress Gets Flurry Of Insurance Bills
Citation
Permanent Replacement for Dinallo Likely Months Away
Citation
Tax, Environmental Groups Question Hurricane Bailout Plan
Citation