Military Sales Bill Marches To House Floor (Updated)

"The committee's vote signals strong bipartisan support for curtailing abusive life insurance and mutual fund sales practices at military installations," ACLI President Frank Keating says in the statement. "The soldiers protecting us deserve no less than a full commitment to help them financially, which is why life insurers strongly support H.R. 458."

The bill was introduced Feb. 1 by Rep. Geoff Davis, R-Ky.

Commenting after the vote, Davis said, "We can't allow these practices to continue."

He added that, "We must not ask our military to make sacrifices for our freedom without promising them financial protection in return. My wife and I lost nearly half our life savings after investing in a similar scheme when I was a young soldier. Unfortunately, retired officers and high-ranking enlisted personnel lend their names to such companies who then access bases to make sales pitches to impressionable, young troops."

Davis explained his investment decision by saying, "I made the decision to invest not because I was experienced in financial matters but because a retired service member was working as a salesman and pushing a product with the referral from other veterans."

In other news on Capitol Hill, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce has approved H.R. 525, a bill that would authorize the formation of national association health plans that would be free from state health coverage mandates.

Small business groups are supporting the bill, saying it would help member employers enjoy the same freedom from state mandates that sponsors of large, self-insured health plans now enjoy.

But many health insurers are opposing the bill, arguing it would encourage employers with young, healthy employees to join poorly capitalized AHPs while leaving traditional carriers with the burden of insuring older, sicker groups.

An insurance producer group, the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, Falls Church, Va., put out a statement welcoming committee approval of the military base life sales bill but criticizing committee approval of the AHP bill. NAIFA officials say the AHP bill would hurt patients by encouraging small employers to join AHPs that would be exempt from state patient protection rules.