Almost four years ago, in 2019, the General Assembly Action Committee (GAAC) was formed by this association for the purpose of furthering legislation helpful to and in line with, the values of NCAHU. As an original committee member I have been a witness to the effort, growth and efficacy of this committee.
When the committee first formed it was important for us to clarify and quantify, for ourselves and our members, the purpose of the organization. And thus, our legislative tenets were created:
NCAHU will support initiatives, products, and services that can lower cost, preserve
quality and the integrity of the healthcare market, and bring more choice, competition,
and access to North Carolina’s health insurance market while protecting the essential
role of the agent.
NCAHU will support the introduction of new products available to any licensed
insurance professional that meet the above criteria and can be offered by any insurance
carrier licensed in North Carolina to sell that line of coverage.
Our committee is wide and diverse, among our members we have representatives from some of the largest broker houses to smaller boutique agencies, we have general agents, practice leaders in compliance, and agents focused solely on the individual market. The importance of having a wide array of voices who serve all aspects of our industry cannot be overstated. The strength of this committee lies purely in our diversity.
In keeping with our tenets this committee met in early March for a full day of legislative planning for the upcoming short session at the General Assembly. In addition to mapping out public policy issues we wished to pursue, setting out goals and objectives, we also took an in-depth look into our strength and weaknesses. Our strengths included; having a clear mission, being able to move quickly on legislative issues, and having a high degree of credibility.
I love celebrating our successes and growth but in order for us to be effective advocates of our industry we know that we must be clear-eyed about our areas of vulnerability and aspects of our work that could be stronger. And so in 2022 this committee is focused on the following:
further educating our members on the value of advocacy and political engagement
encouraging our members to actively engage in political action and advocacy
more frequent communication to our members, sharing our legislative successes and helping members to understand legislative challenges
increasing member donations to NCPAC our state PAC
In that spirit I have two asks for all of our NCAHU members, the first is to invite you to add your voice to this committee to help us with our legislative goals. Your engagement and advocacy will be critical to the continued and future successes of this committee. Second, it is impossible for us to do the work that we do without your contributions to our PAC. The work that we do and the legislation we support directly impacts the work you do each and every day. If you are not already contributing, please consider becoming a monthly supporter and help us as the voice of our industry in North Carolina. Finally, if you are already contributing, thank you. It was your support that helped us pass several pieces of legislation including the most recent, the EPO bill.
To contribute to our PAC please visit our website at: https://www.ncahu.org/advocacy
The NCAHU website has been undergoing a facelift and included in that will be a Members Only section that will be rolled out in the next few months. There NCAHU members will be able to access a new legislative podcast, receive updates on legislation from our lobbyist, Joe Stewart and be able to view some new on demand professional development resources from our Professional Development Committee. So stay tuned, exciting things are happening!
Until next month,
Michelle Wilson-Reynolds
Chair, General Assembly Action Committee