Page 12 - June2017

IIA of IL Lobbies Congress

A team of IIA of IL members lobbied our Congressional We urged Congress to protect the employer sponsored
delegation in Washington D.C. last week. Participants from health care system in any reforms being considered. We
Illinois included all members of the IIA of IL Executive asked them to support and co-sponsor the ‘Cadillac tax’
Committee, five first-time attendees (four of which were repeal bill (S. 58/H.R. 173). The ‘Cadillac tax’ assesses a
young agents) and fourteen past conference attendees. damaging 40% tax on health plans that exceed a fixed
annual cost which is expected to be less than $11,000 per
government
The IIA of IL group met with Representatives Peter Roskam, year for an individual when the law goes into effect on
Raja Krishnamoorthi, Brad Schneider, Bill Foster, Mike 2020.
Bost, and Darin LaHood. They also met with the staff
from Senators Richard Durbin and Tammy Duckworth We lobbied against the idea that is being considered in
and Representatives Rodney Davis, Randy Hultgren Robin Congress to tax employees on the now tax exempt cost
Kelly, Daniel Lipinski, Luis Gutiérrez, Cheri Bustos and of their health benefits if the benefits exceed a certain
Adam Kinzinger. The following issues were discussed with threshold set by Congress. This proposal would have a
our Congressional delegation. similar effect as the ‘Cadillac tax’ to discourage employers
to offer health plans to their employees.
Flood Insurance
Taxes
The IIA of IL lobbied for a 10-year reauthorization of a
reformed National Flood Insurance Program before it We urged our legislators to reform small business and
expires on September 30th. Some of the reforms that are individual rates along with corporate rates in tax reform
being considered include increased use of mitigation efforts. Since the majority of independent agencies
practices, updated mapping technologies and the purchase are small business pass-through entities (subchapter S
of reinsurance to spread taxpayer risk. We also shared our corporations, partnerships, sole proprietorships) that file at
support for a bill that would allow private flood policies individual rates, by reforming only corporate rates would
to satisfy the mandatory purchase requirement for flood further create an uneven playing field for our members.
insurance.
Insurance Regulatory Reform
We communicated our opposition to cuts to the NFIP
Write-Your-Own program which is a public-private We shared how the Big I remains dedicated to preserving
partnership for distribution of flood insurance. The Big the state-based system of insurance regulation. We asked
“I” is working to ensure that any potential changes to the our Congressional delegation to significantly restrict or
program recognize the important role of independent eliminate the Federal Insurance Office which was created
agents in helping consumers make informed decisions by the Dodd-Frank financial services reform law. FIO has
about the purchase of NFIP policies for their homes and proven to have questionable value for the insurance market
businesses. and consumers and could evolve into a regulatory force on
the federal level.
The NFIP has a debt of over $24 billion, largely due to
Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Rita and Superstorm Sandy. Crop Insurance
For more than two decades, up until the 2005 hurricane
season, no taxpayer money had been used to support IIA of IL continued to lobby our Congressional delegation
this program. There has been considerable discussion in against any attempts to cut or cap premium incentives on
Congress on the role of agents and their compensation the Crop Insurance Program in the 2018 Farm bill. We also
levels. We explained how time intensive and complicated advocated for assurances that the private sector will remain
the program is to sell and how critical we are in the the primary distribution force of the NFIP.
process.
Health Insurance

On the day that we met with our Congressional delegation,
the U.S. House passed the American Health Care Act.
Despite this, we were still able to meet with many of our
legislators.

1. IIA of IL members and staff pictured outside the office of US. Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL)
2. Bill Rademacher, U.S. Rep. Bill Foster (D-11th), Keith Rademacher
3. Illinois attendees at the Constituent Coffee with Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider (D-10th)
4. Patrick Muldowney, Brian McSherry, and Mike Wojcik , pictured with staff from U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger’s office (third
from left)

12 insight june 2017