Sic Transit

Our recent cover article on “No-Fault” has drawn a lot of fire from both of the equation. In this issue, we present one of the more acrid letters we received, from Attorney Craig Bruno. We commend that you read it (page 3). The issue simply will not go away and we will keep up the beat on following it as reforms develop and proposals come out …We were delighted to attend the Downstate Insurance Agents Council’s meeting on Thursday, February 24th on Long Island, and wish to take a moment to praise Pat Calvert who has been the organizing force for so many good things on Long Island for independent insurance agents for so many years. Pat is a credit to the profession inasmuch as she began her career in claims in a large insurance agency on Long Island and morphed into association management, an ideal career for such a talented woman. More on the event in our next issue…We present below a photograph taken at the American Transit Insurance Company’s recent brokers’ meeting. We were pleased to participate in the meeting which drew together hundreds of inner-city agents and brokers who write business with A.T.I.C. On a private note, we are delighted that Edward T. McGettigan, Jr., President of the company has recovered so remarkably quickly from surgery on his leg, giving testament to the kind of spunk and vigor this company has at its’ top…The matter of Life Insurance settlements and the regulation of them will easily be the kind of program that could be said to be advantageously monitored in a combined new agency (consumer protection insurance and banking), but we do not agree. Again, our position here has been that banking and insurance should be combined even though there are some conflicts there, as well, but that adding consumer protection on the top puts an entirely different cast on the whole matter. It will be a discouragement to businesses already in New York and it will surely be no incentive to insurance companies to locate here. In fact, consumer protection covers everything from pharmaceuticals to off track betting. Having it tied so closely to financial products send the wrong signal and would de-emphasize the greater number of areas in which consumers may be easily ripped off, even at peril to their lives. In short, the idea of making government agencies slimmer, more compact, and more muscular is a great one and we hail the Cuomo Administration for taking the lead in this. How it’s done, however, requires going back to the Aristotelian principle of subsuming things properly under genus and species. Banking and insurance, although they have been merged unfortunately in many cases, nonetheless fit together better then banking and insurance and the regulation of consumer scams in pharmaceuticals or other related fraud. Enough said…We had the pleasure recently of meeting Senator Eric Adams, who is from Brooklyn, referred to us by a dear friend. He has much to say about New York City’s future, notably since his district is one of the few that is truly representative of the entire city. His district represents central Brooklyn and touches upon at least five neighborhoods that are so different in character that in one case the residents have trouble with guns and drugs and on the other hand they have trouble remembering the number of the limo service that takes them to the opera. In short, this man’s perspective on city life is quite unique and bright. I’m sure we will be hearing more about him in the future…With this issue of the Insurance Advocate we have new advertisers whose work deserves to be viewed carefully along with our longstanding advertisers. The industry in New York is vital no matter how much some elected officials try to saddle the industry with unnecessary regulation. Every issue of the Insurance Advocate is exactly that, an advocate for a better place to work for the insurance business especially in New York, New Jersey, PA and CT