The Bush administration has included only a few paragraphs of comments about the group life industry in its eagerly awaited report on the federal terrorism reinsurance program.[@@]
Congress called for the U.S. Treasury Department in the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002, the act that created the federal terrorism reinsurance program.
TRIA expires Dec. 31, and the insurance industry and Congress have been expecting to read the Treasury Department report for clues about what the reinsurance program might look like in the future.
The American Council of Life Insurers, Washington, says it is not surprised by the lack of attention given to group life, given the fact that the current TRIA extension bill makes no mention of group life.
"This was a report about how the law worked," says Jack Dolan, an ACLI staff member. "Group life was not part of the law. The importance of the report to the group life industry is that the finality of the report begins a serious review of a TRIA extension by Congress. We will work diligently to communicate to Congress and the administration the critical importance of adding group life to the program."
The ACLI's argument to Congress and the administration "is that lives, not just bricks and mortar, should be of central importance when Congress crafts an extension to this program," Dolan says.
