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October 2008
   VOICES FROM THE FIELD
The NALU Issues Statements on AIDS The dilemma of what to do about the AIDS problem came into sharp focus in 1986 when the Washington, D.C., Council passed a law forbidding insurance companies to test applicants for the AIDS antibody. Many felt the move attacked the foundation of the insurance industry, which is the concept of risk sharing. "When 80 percent of the life and health insurance companies doing business in a city pull out, something is wrong," wrote Leslie H. Jackson, a prominent association leader in the District of Columbia. "The AIDS epidemic is causing many problems for society in general and for the insurance industry in particular," he pointed out in an article appearing in Life Association News, in August 1987. "The D.C. law has been in effect for a year. One result has been that many companies no longer write individual life, health and disability insurance in the District of Columbia." Other jurisdictions, he observed, including California and Wisconsin, had enacted similar restrictions and other states; notably Massachusetts and New York were considering taking similar steps. Citing a study on the impact of the ruling in Washington, conducted by Howard University Professor of Insurance Martin Weiss, Jackson reported:
One of the earliest and most enlightened statements on the subject from an industry spokesman appeared in an editorial by NALU executive vice president Jack E. Bobo. "In my view, it's time for the insurance industry to use its resources to do significantly more than fight unfavorable legislation," he wrote in his monthly column, "Viewpoint," for June 1987. Noting other difficulties the industry had faced in the past, Bobo asserted:
A survey of 165 companies conducted under the auspices of the American Council of Life Insurance and Health Insurance Association of America revealed that $99.2 million in AIDS-related claims was paid in the first half of 1987. In his address to the national convention the following September Bobo warned, "Human misery aside, our industry in particular is extremely vulnerable to the consequences that could result if this plague goes unchecked. To sit idly by and do nothing while suffering and death mount and economic ruin become a likelihood would be malfeasance of the worst order. To say the least, that is not our style, and so act we must." After several attempts to develop a policy on the AIDS problem, the NALU executive committee formed a task force to offer recommendations that would reflect the concerns of the associated agents and their clients. Finally, in April 1988 the NALU Board of Trustees issued a comprehensive policy statement. Life Association News reported: NALU's amended policy on AIDS:
On the legislative front there was one area where the industry could afford to breathe easier—at least for a moment. "When President Reagan signed the Competitive Equality Banking Act of 1987 on August 10," NALU's general counsel Douds informed the agents, "he was putting his signature on significant banking legislation. The signing of H.R. 27 temporarily brought to an end a struggle between bank deregulation and bank regulation factions that had been going on at a fierce pace for six month or more." He said that the agents could take pride in the success of their grassroots action in getting the law enacted. The importance of the law he explained was that it imposed a moratorium until March 1, 1988, on the approval of expanded insurance powers for banks. By this time the associated agents were displaying considerable political muscle. In 1987 they contributed $2,148,452 to their political action committee's fund. There was little doubt that congressional candidates were becoming increasingly aware of the NALU's presence in the nation's capital. In July 1988, Austin Adkinson, executive director of the committee, announced the completion of six regional workshops where the organization set its national goal for the year at $2,250,000. At that time contributions were already seven percent ahead of those of the previous year. This enabled the life underwriters' PAC to contribute approximately $1.5 million to political candidates that year. In terms of money raised, it was listed as the eighth largest political action committee representing a trade in the country. In 1987 the NALU board of Trustees voted to dissolve the Women Life Underwriters Conference. The decision was made at the request of the leaders of the group themselves, who asked that the dissolution take place at the conclusion of the 1987 NALU annual convention. The board had voted considerable sums to help the organization gain wider support on several occasions. The results, however, had been disappointing. "The NALU board had recommended earlier that the WLUC consider affiliation with NALU as a standing committee rather than as a conference," Life Association News reported; "however, the WLUC board believes that WLUC can best serve the interests of women life underwriters by becoming a separate and autonomous organization rather than a committee of NALU." The board also approved a recommendation to broaden the NALU's appeal by changing the name of the organization to "The National Association for Life Underwriting." At the convention in Orlando that fall, the WLUC was dissolved. Some if its previous members formed an independent organization known as the Women Life Underwriters Confederation. However, the proposed name change was defeated by the National Council. Spearheading the opposition to the proposed NALU name change was Brendan E. Adams, the young president-elect of the Central Oregon Life Underwriters Association. His statement expressing surprise that the National Association's leadership would take up their time with such a "trivial and pointless suggestion" as the slight alteration of the name of the organization met with thunderous applause. A standing vote revealed that the necessary two-thirds majority needed for a bylaws change was not there. It was also at this time that the Executive Committee voted to discard the Association's Liberty Bell emblem. The new logo consisted of no more than "NALU' in Roman capitals set on a plain rectangle and separated by dots. No attempt was made to incorporate the Association's motto or date of foundation as the old emblem had. It was simple, dignified and modern. Many, however, objected not simply to the expense the change necessitated, but to the fact the new logo contained no elements that suggested the propose or nature of the organization. Despite these objections, however, most NALU affiliated quickly adopted the design and the Roman-lettered rectangle soon began appearing on association stationery throughout the country. In September the NALU announced that its audio-visual department had produced "Rhetoric vs. Reality," a professional quality video tape designed to help life agents conserve in-force business from the wholesale replacement strategy of the Atlanta-based A.L. Williams organization. "Rhetoric vs. Reality" reviews some of the marketing strategies of the A.L. Williams organization, offers company-to-company comparisons of term insurance products and examines A.L. Williams' recommendation to buy term and invest the difference," explained producer John Phillips. In recommending the production for agent and company use, Life Association News quoted Alan Press who was intimately involved in the production:
The video was widely distributed and received accolades not only for its effectiveness in delivering the message, but also for its high technical quality. In 1998 Phillips won a Certificate of Creative Excellence at the U.S. Industrial Film and Video Festival. The unveiling of "Rhetoric vs. Reality" attracted a good deal of attention and excited interest from unexpected quarters, as Life Association News Associate Editor Steven Sullivan reported:
The 1987 NALU convention took place on September13-17 at Marriott's Orlando World Center in Orlando, Florida. "For most attendees, the 98th NALU convention…was still the same reassuring mix of business and pleasure that attendees have come to depend on," Sullivan wrote. " Motivation al seminars were available all day long—either at one of the convention programs or on any of the many video cassettes available in the exhibit area," he noted. Arthur Abramson, a twenty-four-year veteran agent with New York Life at New Orleans, became president. A graduate of Loyola University, he had served as a Navy fighter pilot during World War II. Since the NALU's longtime director of public relations, Marvin Kobel, had announced his retirement the Orlando convention provided an occasion for paying tribute to Kobel's enormous contributions to the agents' organization during the past thirty-two years. Since February 1986 when Denise J. Patton had been named director of NALU public relations, Kobel had devoted most of his energies to producing the NALU conventions. (As a member of Kobel's staff, Patton had served as coordinator of the "Financial Fitness" consumer information program.) At this time it was announced that Kobel would become that the NALU's special consultant on convention planning. In his address to the convention, outgoing president Woods focused on his efforts to spread the spirit of the Association movement internationally. In the spring of 1987, he and Million Dollar Round Table president Wilmer Poynor had traveled to India and given a series of addresses in various parts of the country concluding with a speech to about two hundred life insurance agents and officers of the Life Insurance Corporation of India in Delhi. Reporting on conditions there Woods told the delegates, "the life insurance industry in India insures about 80 million people, but that’s only 10 percent of the population. The average agent earns less than $8,000 per year. The average policy size is under $2,000. Although there are over 300,000 agents in the country the industry is very much like the industry was in the United States in the early 1900's." Noting that his and Poynor's visit was the first official representation of American agents to India, he said he hoped the gateway to new understanding had been opened. "the mission of the life insurance industry around the world is to help people avoid the financial hardship brought on by death, disability, and old age," he reminded the agents. "It is not to make people rich. It is not to create a better spreadsheet. It is not even to protect the inside buildup, although protect it we must and we will….We exist to help people." Foreword by Alan Press, 1988-1989 NALU President Preface by Jack E. Bobo, 1989 NALU Executive Vice President Chapter 1 Laying the Foundation—A Meeting at the Parker House Leading Figures—Ransom, Carpenter, Blodgett and Plummer Conditions Leading to the Foundation of the NALU Rise of Modern Life Insurance and the General Agency System Issues and Accomplishments of the First 15 Years Chapter 2 In the Wake of the Armstrong Investigation A Royal Commission Investigates Life Insurance Operations in Canada A Period of Growth and Visibility for the NALU Under Strong Leadership The NALU Plays a Leading Role in Insurance Education Chapter 3 The NALU's Extension of Activity The Agents Move for Recognition Chapter 4 Annual Conventions and Midyear Meetings The NALU Celebrates Its 50th Anniversary Chapter 5 The NALU Joins the Industry in Legislative Battles The NALU Establishes the National Quality Award Chapter 6 Controversies and Schisms (1946-1956) Chapter 7 Dispute Over Minimum Deposit Insurance Plans GAMC Stages First LAMP Meeting The NALU Celebrates Its Diamond Jubilee Year The NALU Increases Political Activity U.S. Senate Antitrust and Monopoly Subcommittee Investigate Life Insurance The NALU Responds to Consumerist Activism Chapter 8 The NALU Reaches the Century Mark FTC Releases a Study Critical of the Insurance Industry Formation of the Women Life Underwriters Conference The NALU Issues Statements on AIDS The NALU Combats a New Wave of Attacks The NALU Celebrates a Century of Service [xxxi]32 LAN, August 1987pp 23-24 [xxxii] LAN, June 1987 p. 12 [xxxiii] LAN, June 1988, p. 27 [xxxiv] LAN, September 1987, p. 45 © Advisor Today 2008. All rights reserved.
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