IOWA SESSION ENDS MIXED FOR INSURERS, SAYS AIADES MOINES, IA, April 28, 2008 – The 2008 Iowa legislative session ended with mixed results for the insurance industry, according to the American Insurance Association (AIA). “Iowa’s Legislature was highly active on insurance issues this year and in the end, all the activity yielded mixed results for insurers,” said John Birkinbine, AIA assistant vice president, Midwest Region. “Creating the post of ‘Insurance Consumer Advocate,’ we feel, was unnecessary given the existing regulatory framework, but legislators smartly avoided other regressive tinkering with the state’s insurance oversight system.” The 82nd Session of the Iowa General Assembly adjourned sine die on Saturday, April 26 at approximately 2:30 a.m. Among the dozens of bills relating to the property/casualty insurance industry, legislation of note included: - House File 2555, the Division of Insurance’s omnibus bill. While AIA opposed certain provisions of this bill, such as the creation of an insurance consumer advocate, the bill passed both chambers and is expected to be signed by Gov. Chet Culver (D).
- Senate File 2344, a bill to expand certain workers’ compensation benefits if those benefits were “unreasonably” delayed or denied. AIA opposed this legislation and while it passed the Senate, it stalled in the House, and died at the close of session.
- Senate File 2326, a bill to essentially ban insurer use of preferred vendors for home repair supplies. The AIA opposed bill would have limited insurers’ ability to negotiate bulk discounts, which helps keep costs down. After initially passing the Commerce Committee, it failed a second round of the committee process.
- House File 2590, a bill to extend a private right of action under the consumer fraud act. This onerous bill would have negatively impacted the state’s tort climate and subjected insurers and other businesses to unnecessary lawsuits. It died early in the session.
- House File 2608, a bill to let employees select a doctor outside of the workers’ compensation system for treatment of a workplace injury. While superficially a “choice” bill, by allowing medical treatment for work related injuries outside of the workers’ compensation system, this legislation would harm the effective balance of benefits and cost containment that is a key to the system, and could also lead to more insurance fraud. The bill failed to move out of committee.
“The Hawkeye State has a fairly balanced and common sense political environment despite the one party rule in Des Moines. We are pleased to end this session without seeing major legislation pass that would have harmed the solid, healthy insurance market in the state,” added Birkinbine. The property/casualty industry in Iowa employed more than 9,500 and paid more than $121.4 million in premium taxes alone in 2006. Additionally, insurers are a major source of capital for governmental bodies in the state. According to analysis of A.M. Best data, they held $1.1 billion in Iowa municipal bonds in 2005 – approximately 9% of the outstanding state and local government debt in the state.
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