CEI Commends Insurance Reform Hearings

Washington, D.C., June
10, 2008—The House of Representatives today convenes its first hearings on proposals to create a first-ever federal
insurance overseer, an Office of Insurance Information. That’s good news for consumers, says Eli Lehrer, a Senior Fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

In a new CEI OnPoint analysis, “Toward a National Market
for Insurance,” Lehrer praised the bi-partisan "H.R.
5840, the Insurance Information Act of 2008
". The bill is the subject
of the Tuesday hearing by the House Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance,
and Government Sponsored Enterprises.

“This
is a small step, but it’s a step in the right direction,” says Lehrer. “An OII
is a long-overdue measure that would help move us in the direction of a modern,
flexible, globally competitive insurance market.”

Currently,
the property and casualty insurance market is heavily regulated at the state
level. The reform plan would begin the
process of removing impediments for U.S. firms to operate in a
liberalized national—and ultimately international—environment.

Read the OnPoint: Toward a National Market for
Insurance, by Eli Lehrer

CEI
is a non-profit, non-partisan public policy group dedicated to the principles
of free enterprise and limited government.
For more information about CEI, please visit our website at www.cei.org.
Visit CEI’s blog at OpenMarket.org.