May 29: Time for insurers to intensify lobby

Chuks Udo Okonta 

As the May 29 date for transition to new government approaches and newly elected persons working assiduously to form  Governments that will oversee the affairs of the nation in the next four years, insurance operators should not sit on the fence, but rise and intensify lobby to implant people that would help push their course.

Taking a clue  from American Insurers who according to a recent report were adjudged  among Washington's biggest donors, with the aim of securing powerful allies in Congress, Nigerian insurers must not allow this opportunity elude them, as the government, presently remains the highest buyer of insurance.

According to the report, Insurance firms in the United States, are lobbying to secure powerful allies in Congress as the Federal Reserve draws up nationwide capital rules for the $1 trillion industry after years of delay.

Insurers have spent more than $150 million annually on lobbying Congress - in addition to campaign donations - since 2010, far more than what commercial banks or securities firms spent. Since 1998, the sector has spent the most of any industry other than the pharmaceutical sector, according to data on the OpenSecrets website (https://www.opensecrets.org).

"The new caucus will be instrumental in solidifying congressional support for our industry, particularly in helping to elevate our industry's profile," American Council of Life Insurers Chief Executive Dirk Kempthorne said in a March 10 email to members that was obtained by Reuters.

Richard Neal and Pat Tiberi, both members of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, which regulates taxes, are co-chairs of the newly established insurance caucus. Both have received large sums of money for their campaigns from the industry in recent years, public data shows.

Tiberi, an Ohio Republican, was the seven-biggest recipient of funds from the industry for the 2014 election, according to public data on OpenSecrets. Neal, a Democrat from Massachusetts, was ninth on the list. The electoral districts of both men are home to large insurance firms.

The only members of Congress who received more money from the industry were higher-profile politicians like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Speaker of the House John Boehner, and Jeb Hensarling, the firebrand Republican who chairs the House Financial Services Committee.