Dear Elon and Vivek: Insurance Commissioners Urge DOGE to Ditch FIO

Insurance commissioners from nine states are looking to the new Department of Government Efficiency to do away with the Federal Insurance Office.

In a letter, addressed to DOGE heads Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the commissioners said the FIO’s mission of monitoring the insurance industry is “already effectively fulfilled by state regulators.”

“Since its inception, FIO has fluctuated between ineffectiveness and outright dishonesty in it dealings with the states,” continued the letter from insurance commissioners David J. Bettencourt of New Hampshire, Glen Mulready of Oklahoma, Carter Lawrence of Tennessee, Mark Fowler of Alabama, Tim Temple of Louisiana, Vicki Schmidt of Kansas, Alan McClain of Arkansas, Mike Causey of North Carolina, and Allan McVey of West Virginia.

What Others Are Saying?

Before the commissioners wrote their letter, insurance experts weighed in on the possibility that DOGE would put an end to the FIO for Carrier Management.

“FIO has 13 full-time employees and Homeland Security has 260,000. If Ramaswamy and Musk are trying to cut fat out of the government, it would be laughable if they went after an agency with a dozen people [that’s] been described as toothless because it monitors the industry and doesn’t regulate it.”

Jerry Theodorou, R Street Institute

“In the 14 years since [FIO was created as part of the Dodd-Frank Act], it has become abundantly clear that insurers do not pose a systemic risk to the economy. Even the NAIC [National Association of Insurance Commissioners] may wind up supporting its dissolution.”

Robert Hartwig, University of South Carolina

Read more predictions in the Carrier Management article “Mixed Bag: What Trump 2.0 Tariffs, DOGE Activities Mean For Insurers”

The commissioners said “any functions [FIO] purports to serve could easily be absorbed by other federal offices or reverted to the states.” The letter to the DOGE co-leaders uses FIO’s latest “misguided effort” to collect data from insurers in collaboration with the NAIC as an example of its alleged ineffectiveness, and questions FIO’s motivation for the data call. The commissioners said it remains unclear whether the Treasury Department’s FIO wanted the data for the purposes of “consumer protection or to pressure the insurance industry into adopting ESG (environmental social and governance) policies.”

More than two years ago, FIO proposed to have property/casualty insurers submit ZIP-code-level data, but the effort was criticized by industry trades who said the request was too onerous, overly broad, and unnecessary. FIO dropped the plan and then said it would collaborate with NAIC. But rather than working to ensure the accuracy of the data, the letter to DOGE from the commissioners said FIO chose to go forward with “flawed information.”

The elimination of FIO is not a new idea. In 2023, GOP members of the House of Representatives introduced a bill to ditch FIO, created in 2010 as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

Earlier this month, a coalition of consumer, environmental, and fair housing groups called upon FIO to release the homeowners insurance data.

NAIC has yet to respond to a request for comment.

This article was previously published by Insurance Journal. Reporter Chad Hemenway is the National Editor of Insurance Journal.