Opinion: Gutting insurance oversight hurts Missourians

These Missourians wanted stronger oversight and accountability to make sure the powerful insurance industry paid attention to the interests of average Missourians.

Listening to those concerns, I sponsored a resolution to allow Missouri voters to decide on the creation of an executive-level department to oversee the insurance industry.

This measure was particularly important because, prior to 1990, the insurance industry was largely ignored by the state government and oversight was buried in a large bureaucracy along with other bureaucratic entities such as the Council for Hearing Aid Dealers and Fitters and the State Committee on Psychology.

These other areas of government, while important, had nothing to do with making sure Missourians were treated fairly by insurance companies.

The intention of this resolution, therefore, was to evaluate and adequately highlight the importance of insurance products and the role they play in the lives of all Missourians. The resolution was overwhelmingly supported by both Republicans and Democrats in the General Assembly, and on Aug. 7, 1990, Missouri voters agreed and approved the creation of the Department of Insurance.

Since that time, the Department of Insurance has successfully worked to strike a balance between the a competitive insurance industry and the interests of Missouri seniors and families. The Department of Insurance has collected millions of dollars in reimbursements and has saved taxpayers money.

But now all this good work could be undone. Gov. Matt Blunt’s Government Review Commission is recommending that Missouri go back in time and undo what the Department of Insurance, which is the only government agency regulating the $23 billion industry in this state, be downgraded and placed into a new, large bureaucratic mess called “the Department of Financial Regulation and Professional Registration.”

Once again, oversight of the powerful insurance industry would be lumped into a large bureaucracy along with the oversight of unrelated areas of government – this time it would be thrown in with the regulation of tattoo parlors, beauty shops and professional wrestling.

To make matters worse, this commission is also recommending that the Securities Division, which is now overseen by the secretary of state, be lumped into this bureaucratic chaos as well. The Securities Division investigates investment fraud in Missouri, and anyone with a 401k or a retirement plan should be worried about this proposal.

Gov. Blunt’s Government Review Commission made its recommendations without testimony and without input from consumer groups or anyone representing the real Missourians who could be hurt by this proposal. And this commission agreed to this recommendation without any evidence that it would save money for Missouri taxpayers.

When Gov. Blunt and his father, Congressman Roy Blunt, each served as secretary of state, neither one of them ever suggested that Missourians would be better served by moving the Securities Division into another government agency. In fact, while Gov. Blunt served as Missouri’s secretary of state, he said that protecting people from investment fraud was one of the most important duties of the secretary of state.

Furthermore, during his recent campaign for governor, Blunt referred to the Department of Insurance as a “bureaucratic behemoth.” Combining insurance and securities regulation under one entity just doesn’t make sense.

Missourians should ask Gov. Blunt to remember his words. It goes against common sense to think that combining all these different oversight functions into one large bureaucracy is going to make government more efficient.

Tell the governor you don’t want your life insurance or your retirement looked after by the same folk who regulate tattoo parlors and beauty shops.

James L. Mathewson of Sedalia is former Missouri state senator for the 21st District.