Adrienne Harris

Insurance Advocate  and its readers welcome Adrienne Harris to the post of New York Superintendent of Financial Services. Ms. Harris, whose years might imply otherwise,  is  rather a seasoned executive with experience in Washington and elsewhere in and around government. We trust that her experience t will translate well into the role of NY DFS’s lead regulator. These days regulators across the country differ in their approaches to the role; some reach very far in activist approaches, others sustain what predecessors and precedent has created rather conservatively. We believe that somewhere in the middle lies virtue –  a beautiful balance.  Regulating the industries under DFS is much larger than just the focus upon insurance. That fact was emphasized in the document we have re-produced in this issue outlining our outlining Ms. Harris’s goals. Health insurance is a big part of it. There are some social issues which find their way into the planks, a practice that seems to be becoming de rigeur, whether fitting or not. Although it is sometime stretch to include trendy modern platform issues in the matter of regulation, let’s see how that plays out in this case.  We have been privileged to know many past regulators in New York personally and have found that the succession has been strong and has stayed within the parameters of  reasonableness and fairness that have made the state’s regulatory system so rich and so highly revered across the United States. Personally, I am not anti-government, but do not endorse overreaching officials or those who operate under assumed mandates. I oppose the lassitude that characterizes many departments where the sense of inertia just ruins a state’s attractiveness to insurers. In the case of Adrienne Harris, we are optimistic having studied her background and written and spoken documents.  Looks like it may add up to excellence in that in that office. We send kind regards to Supt Harris….We note with great pleasure that the COVID crisis seems to have abated to a great extent and some normalcy is returning. Unfortunately, along with the pandemic’s end, we witness the beginning of  several other virus like diseases in the social body, equally destructive, particularly the matter of criminal activity. It is unfortunate that the very thing that will bring back the economy is now being hampered, cloyed and even destroyed by individuals who have no interest whatsoever in the well-being of their neighbors or society. Recidivism is way up, because the bail “reform” has taken hold. Some sanity must find its way here fast. Insurers will be affected badly. SA