Extra! Commissioners Disclose Policy

One of the mini-stories within the super-sized brokerage scandal is how state insurance commissioners, at least the appointed rather than elected ones, are very much like the industry they regulate when it comes to the media: conservative, shy and maybe even distrustful.

In recent weeks, both Massachusetts Insurance Commissioner Julianne Bowler and New York Insurance Superintendent Greg Serio have commented how the media tends to ignore insurance departments and how their deeds are overshadowed by the sexier work of their states’ attorneys general.

Bowler readily acknowledges that it just isn’t her style to toot her own or her agency’s horn. That’s more the province of elected politicians. What’s more, commissioners are not law enforcers whereas attorneys general are.

Serio spoke on the matter in recent testimony on behalf of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), pointing out that the actions of attorneys general in New York and Connecticut have attracted a great deal of media attention. “Complicated business transactions, arcane accounting and undisclosed compensation arrangements are normally consigned to the business pages of newspapers,” the Empire State regulator noted, “but these same practices can become front-page news when allegations of far-reaching criminal fraud and corporate malfeasance affecting billions of dollars are involved.”

Meanwhile, Serio suggested, state insurance regulators quietly work behind the scenes, sharing their information and expertise with these high-profile law enforcers and going about their daily business of overseeing the industry. Serio continued, “…(S)tate regulators routinely monitor aspects of the insurance business that do not attract media attention, but which can have an enormous impact on the two major obligations insurers owe to their customers–issuing sound policies and paying claims on time.”

It’s true that big headlines do not necessarily make good public policy. But a dearth of headlines at all does not mean good policy either. Where is it written that commissioners should remain wallflowers in the important insurance debates? Most commissioners are not politicians in the sense that they answer to voters directly but that is no excuse for hiding behind closed doors. This is not to suggest that either Bowler or Serio are inaccessible or poor communicators. On the contrary, they are very articulate and frequently willing to comment, at least to the trade press.

The low media profiles of some commissioners may have to do with an under-appreciation by them (or their elected bosses) of the role of media in shaping insurance regulatory policy. While not all commissioners are comfortable in front of microphones, they should be willing to risk exchanges with reporters in order to shed light on issues and spark public debate over policy. At a time when so much importance is being attached to disclosure–and when questions are flying over how well state regulation is performing–state commissioners need to step up to the microphones.