NAIC Did Fine in 2019. But...

The regulator group has released a snapshot of how things were, before COVID-19.

By Allison Bell | April 20, 2020 at 06:51 AM

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners is reporting an increase in revenue and assets for 2019, as pressing concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic push fond memories of 2019 further into obscurity.

The Kansas City, Missouri-based, nonprofit state insurance regulator group is reporting an $18 million change in net assets without donor restrictions for 2019 on $113 million in revenue, up from a $2.9 million in net assets without donor restrictions on $106 million in revenue for 2018.

Education and training revenue fell to $678,392, from $749,045, but all other forms of revenue showed growth.

The biggest source of revenue, database fees, increased to $31 million, from $30 million.

Fees from investment valuation services rose to $29 million, from $27 million.

The narrative section at the beginning identifies priorities such as addressing the problems in the long-term care insurance market and continuing to strengthen health insurance regulation.

But, in a foreword to the annual report, the NAIC acknowledges that COVID-19 has put insurance regulatory priorities in a different light.

“At the time of writing this 2019 annual report, the threat of COVID-19, a novel strain of the Coronavirus, was just emerging,” the NAIC says. “As a result, this report doesn’t discuss the risks this pandemic might have on NAIC’s ongoing operations or strategic priorities for 2020.

The NAIC is doing everything it can to help the nation’s insurance regulators address the crisis, the NAIC says.

“The outbreak of COVID-19 poses an unprecedented threat to our nation’s consumers and the stability of our economy, including our resilient insurance sector,” the NAIC says. “This pandemic has the potential to threaten the health of millions of American consumers. COVID-19’s economic impact has financial implications for the insurance sector as consumers face unemployment, business interruption, workers compensation claims, and a possible inability to pay for critical insurance coverages.”

Although U.S. insurers are generally well-capitalized and reserved, they may face challenges in areas such as investments and disruption of operations, the NAIC says.

“Consequently, ensuring consumer safety and stabilizing the market is now the top challenge and priority of our members, and so they are now the NAIC’s primary focus for 2020,” the NAIC says.

Allison Bell, ThinkAdvisor's insurance editor, previously was LifeHealthPro's health insurance editor. She has a bachelor's degree in economics from Washington University in St. Louis and a master's degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. She can be reached at abell@alm.com or on Twitter at @Think_Allison.