Pen-Elayne on the Web

Uniformity

Every now and then I come across a blog reference that actually has something to do with my day job. Susie Madrak points to this Washington Post article about the National Association of Insurance Commissioners' efforts at regulatory reform, trying to create a system whereby insurance law is the same in every state. I've mostly dealt with the NAIC's licensing division, and I can confirm that these folks are sincere in wanting to standardize as much as they can as efficiently as possible. When I first started coordinating agent licensing, every state had its own application and rules, you needed fingerprints for some and background checks for others and the rules changed at whim, it seemed, every six months or so. Then the NAIC came along, established the National Insurance Producer Registry and its State Matrix of Business Rules (look at that map, only two states are still holdouts! I remember when it was like 20, then 15, then a half dozen...) and their Uniform License Applications for non-residents, and now agents can even apply for a non-resident license online in 30 states plus the District of Columbia! As far as I'm concerned, these people have performed absolute miracles in actually getting most state insurance bureaucracies to agree to the same sets of rules, and if the country ever does evolve to the point of a national healthcare system I can think of no one better to help coordinate it.