May 30, 2017
CBO Score Muddies AHCA Waters
The Congressional Budget Office projected last week that the American Health Care Act would leave 14 million Americans uninsured after one year, increasing to 23 million by 2026. That score makes the Senate’s effort to craft a bill significantly more difficult.
Meanwhile, the Senate’s Republican health reform working group continues to inch its way forward on its replace bill without much clarity, other than their bill will not be what the House passed. Sticking points over the scope of Medicaid expansion, premium subsidies, state waivers on essential health benefits and high risk pools, continue to muddy the waters.
Click here for the biggest takeaways from the score and more.
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NFIP Reauthorization Bill in the Works
The House Financial Services Committee recently released a summary of provisions expected to appear in its forthcoming National Flood Insurance Program reauthorization bill. While it is unclear when a final bill will be released, we have crafted an overview of key topics within the Committee’s summary.
These topics include: the five-year reauthorization, increasing private market involvement, private market access to FEMA claims data, increasing take-up rates, affordability/stability for policyholders, financial soundness of the NFIP and other general areas covered in the legislation summary.
Click here for the overview, which identifies and prioritizes Council issues within the NFIP reauthorization legislation.
Click here for an overview and comparison of Flood Insurance Reform/Reauthorization Proposals, produced by our legal team at Steptoe & Johnson.
WannaCry Spotlights Cyber Exposures
By now you’ve heard of WannaCry, potentially the world’s largest cyber-event to date. Since the global ransomware attack reared its ugly head and affected 300,000 computers (mostly outside the U.S.), the insurance industry has been in the spotlight.
While governments and cybersecurity experts attempt to trace the culprit, companies around the world are beginning to explore the idea of cyber coverage to transfer some of the potential risks of a cyber-event.
The Council’s recently released Cyber Market Watch Survey found risk transfer as the number one driver for the purchase of cyber coverage among small businesses and large entities.
Find out what all this means for the insurance industry.
Want to sign up for our Cyber Roundup newsletter? Click here.
Treasury Sec. Mnuchin Questioned on FATCA
In the midst of questioning Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on tax reform last week, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) slipped in an inquiry about the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) during a Senate Finance Committee hearing.
FATCA’s goal is to close international accounts with cash value that are being exploited to avoid U.S. taxes. The law currently applies to non-cash value property/casualty insurance premiums sent overseas. The Council believes FATCA is misguided to equally target international property/casualty insurance premium payments.
Sen. Scott referenced FATCA’s onerous reporting regulations being imposed on p/c insurance companies that are operating internationally and asked Sec. Mnuchin about the Trump Administration’s position on the issue. Sec. Mnuchin acknowledged that he is familiar with FATCA and pledged to follow up with Sen. Scott.