The National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies and the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America are the latest from the industry to join a call in support of a measure to abolish the Federal Insurance Office.
The trade groups on April 11 submitted a letter to Montana Congressman Troy Downing, who earlier this year introduced H.R. 643, the “Federal Insurance Office Elimination Act.”
“Since [the FIO’s] inception in 2010, our associations have echoed concerns from functional regulators over FIO’s potential for duplicative and overreaching workstreams,” NAMIC and Big I wrote to Downing, R-Mont., an insurance commissioner before running for Congress last year. “Unfortunately, these concerns have been validated over the course of the office’s existence, as it has undermined state-based regulation and exerted inappropriate pressure on industry participants, including unwarranted threats of subpoenas.
“These actions cross directly into work already being performed by state regulators, creating inconsistent expectations, duplication, and costs that are ultimately borne by consumers.”
The support to get rid of the FIO, created in 2010 as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, is the latest from the industry. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) this year released its 2025 agenda, which included the elimination of the U.S. Treasury’s FIO. At the end of 2024, nine insurance commissioners urged the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to look at the FIO.
“Since its inception, FIO has fluctuated between ineffectiveness and outright dishonesty in it dealings with the states,” said the commissioners in their letter to DOGE.
NAMIC and Big I said many of FIO’s reports or positions have “[failed] to include factual and data-driven contributions and perspectives.”
The latest publication was an early 2025 report on the affordability and availability of insurance that the FIO called the “most comprehensive data on homeowners insurance in history.” Predictably, the opinion was not shared by the insurance industry.
Related: Treasury’s FIO Releases ‘Flawed’ Homeowners Insurance Report
David A. Sampson, CEO of the American Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (APCIA), at the time said the FIO report “provides an incomplete explanation about the affordability and availability of insurance.” NAMIC’s Jimi Grande, senior vice president of federal and political affairs, said FIO’s report “is a frustration to anyone who understands the basic insurance principle of matching rate to risk.”
The elimination of FIO is not a new idea. In 2023, GOP members of the House of Representatives introduced a bill to ditch FIO.
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