Forwarded by Dick Blaisdell

The National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA) has been working to discourage the Department of Defense from moving forward on a proposal to prevent insurance agents from doing business on military bases.

NAIFA has maintained throughout the debate that the proposal would not only set a dangerous precedent for the insurance industry but also interfere with the rights of men and women in uniform to make informed personal financial decisions.

To date, DOD has not taken action to enact the harmful proposal. However, recent reports indicate that there have been apparent efforts by the military to prevent hundreds of commercial life insurance policies purchased by soldiers deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan from being processed.

As a result, important committee chairmen of the House of Representatives have asked the General Accounting Office to investigate the issue of why the allotments for the purchase of life insurance are not being enforced. They have also requested a review of the DOD regulations that govern the marketing and sale of life insurance policies. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA), chairman of the Armed Services Committee, and Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA), chairman of the Committee on Government Reform requested the investigation.

The request follows a recent briefing of this issue by NAIFA, among others, to senior staff members of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC). Last year, with the backing of NAIFA, Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA), chairman of the House Subcommittee on Defense Appropriations, added language to the military funding bill that requires DOD to notify Congress in a timely fashion when it proposes changes in military sales practices.

Additionally, NAIFA sought the involvement of Rep. Michael Oxley (R-OH), chairman of the Financial Services Committee. Chairman Oxley sent a letter to Secretary Donald Rumsfeld inquiring as to legality of the proposed rule change that would prohibit life insurance agents from selling supplemental insurance policies at military installations. Other congressional members who have weighed in powerfully include Reps. Christopher Shays, (R-CT), Jim Cooper (D-TN), Ellen Tauscher (D-CA), and Jim Ryun (R-KS).

NAIFA is pleased with the mounting support of members of Congress to protect the right of insurance agents to help provide financial security to members of the armed services.