A View from the Press Box

With less than a month to go before Election Day, one critical pocketbook issue that could put Sen. Barack Obama into the White House is Sen. John McCain’s reckless health insurance reform proposal.

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To take your mind off the free-falling stock market today, how about taking on NU’s next ethical challenge? It involves agent and broker contingency fees, and the potential conflicts of interest such compensation schemes create. Many suggest a ban to avoid conflicts, while independent agents plead for mercy. Are there ethical methods of recognizing potential conflicts of interest in producer compensation, and other than prohibiting them altogether, what are some ethical ways of reconciling those conflicts? (If you wish, you may keep your identity confidential, but please note what role you play in the industry–agent, broker, risk manager, insurer, etc.–so we know where you’re coming from.)

When Al Gore had the chutzpah to speak in New Orleans last year to a Marsh client breakfast with over 1,500 attendees, about the impact of global warming on insurance, I was outraged to learn that his remarks would be off-limits to the press. I lambasted both the former vice president as well as his host, for allowing him to get away with such nonsense. Now, history is about to repeat itself, with CIAB the enabler this time around–not just with one celebrity speaker, but two!

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With Congress demonstrating a lack of brains, a heart and courage in its gross mishandling of the credit crisis, and with President George W. Bush reduced to a powerless humbug, Washington is starting to resemble the characters from “The Wizard Of Oz,” rather than living up to the the hopes and dreams of the Founding Fathers who set up this great republic. It’s time for more dramatic action, and insurance lobbyists can help.

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