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Robert Detlefsen
National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies
Robert Detlefsen is Vice President of Public Policy at the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC), an Indianapolis-based national trade association that represents more than 1,400 property-casualty insurance companies. In this role, Detlefsen conducts public policy research and analysis. Detlefsen’s analyses and commentaries have appeared in specialized insurance publications such as the Journal of Insurance Regulation, the Risk Management and Insurance Review, National Underwriter, and Best’s Review. His articles and reviews have also been published in the Washington Post, Washington Times, Houston Chronicle, National Review, New Republic, and Reason. He is the author of a book, Civil Rights Under Reagan (ICS Press, 1991), and has testified on numerous occasions before state and federal legislative committees and regulatory bodies. Detlefsen holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Berkeley, and a B.A. in political science from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He has served on the faculties of several colleges and universities, teaching courses in American government, constitutional law, and political theory.
His paper will argue that the most appealing feature of an optional federal charter for P/C insurers is the prospect it holds for fostering regulatory competition between the states on the one hand, and the federal government on the other. However, if regulatory competition fails to occur, the federal regulatory regime will, over time, become as onerous as the worst state regimes, if not more so. That, in turn, will encourage states with relatively loose regulation to tighten their regulatory regimes, particularly with respect to underwriting and risk classification. He will explain why this scenario is more likely to occur than the one envisioned by OFC proponents. He will conclude by suggesting that insurers should rethink their support for an optional federal charter because an OFC could ultimately do irreparable harm to P/C insurance markets. |
PO BOX 4036