TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Aug. 1, 2012) – Recent press reports calling Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty to task for his travel schedule misconstrue the value such trips bring to Florida’s fragile insurance market, according to the R Street Institute.

Analysis by reporter Gray Rohrer of The Florida Current suggests that McCarty has been out of the state on travel for 142 days in the past 19 months, including extensive travel overseas. McCarty’s trips have included attending meetings of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors in Switzerland, South Korea and the Cayman Islands, as well as meetings with reinsurers in Bermuda, the European Union in Germany and Lloyd’s of London in the United Kingdom.

But among all these trips, only $4,455 in travel expenses were paid by Florida taxpayers. The bulk have been financed by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, the nonprofit body that promotes standardized insurance rules and regulations for use across the 50 states. McCarty is the NAIC’s current president.

“We have had many deep disagreements with Commissioner McCarty about matters of insurance policy, but he should not be faulted for his travel schedule,” R Street’s Florida Director Christian R. Cámara said. “Solving Florida’s property insurance challenges requires extensive participation by the global insurance and reinsurance markets. Reviewing his busy travel agenda, it looks like Commissioner McCarty has been doing the hard work of making connections and building the kinds of bridges that we in the Sunshine State desperately need.”

McCarty’s leadership at the NAIC and as a member of the IAIS also benefits Florida insurance consumers both by bringing the issues Floridians face to a national and even international stage, as well as by exchanging ideas with other regulators to find solutions that work. For instance, Florida’s first-in-the-nation experiment with reform of collateral requirements for foreign reinsurers has since been adopted as a model law by the NAIC and implemented by a number of other states, including New York, New Jersey and Indiana.

“So long as the commissioner is traveling in a cost-efficient way that minimizes any burden on Florida taxpayers, this is exactly the sort of dialogue we should be supporting as an important step in solving the problems we face as Floridians,” Cámara said.

R Street is a non-profit public policy research organization that supports free markets; limited, effective government; and responsible environmental stewardship. It has headquarters in Washington, D.C. and branch offices in Tallahassee, Fla.; Austin,Texas; and Columbus, Ohio. Its website is www.redesign.rstreet.org.

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