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Stability on Main Street

“Property/casualty insurers have not asked for government handouts, and our industry is stable and continuing to provide critical services to local economies and their communities.”

—J. Douglas Robinson, CEO of Utica, N.Y.-based Utica National Insurance Group, urging the House Small Business Committee not to target new, consumer-costly regulations toward Main Street insurers such as his company. He represented the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America.

Paying the Price

“A few industries have used their influence to obtain a special, statutory exemption from the antitrust laws, and the insurance industry is one of them. In the markets for health insurance and medical malpractice insurance, patients and doctors are paying the price, as costs continue to increase at an alarming rate. Insurers should not object to being subject to the same antitrust laws as everyone else.”

—Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., introducing legislation to repeal the industry’s antitrust exemption that was established in the 1945 McCarran-Ferguson Act.

Turn Back Time

“The words ‘I’m sorry’ really do not begin to capture my feelings. I wish there was a way to turn back the hands of time.”

—Richard Napier, a former executive of General Re Corp. before being sentenced to two years probation and fined $10,000 after pleading guilty to helping American International Group artificially inflate its profits.