Meet Will Melofchik- the new CEO of National Conference of Insurance Legislators – NCOIL.

[00:00:11] Good afternoon and welcome to our first webinar of the new year and happy new year to all of our clients who are joining us today. We are thrilled to welcome Will Melofchik to this first webinar of the year of our Meet the Executive series. He was just installed as the new CEO on January 1st and wanted to introduce him to everyone.

[00:00:35] We are mixing it up today and I'm going to be co-moderated by one of our newer colleagues, Brock Ingmeyer. He's one of the leaders of our health policy practice and works often with Will and his team at NCOIL. So wanted to tag team this conversation and welcome you both to your newish and new roles. Before we formally introduce Will, I'm going to go through a couple of housekeeping items and then we'll kick things off.

[00:01:04] This webinar is being recorded and we will make it available to our clients upon request. So just shoot us an email if you want to listen to this back. We encourage everyone who joined us today to submit questions. You can do this by putting that into the chat box or directly messaging Brock or myself.

[00:01:23] We do ask that you identify yourself and put your company or organization when submitting your question just so Will has the most context to answer your question. And this webinar, as some of our others in the past have been, this will be rebroadcast as an episode of the Political Life podcast. So thanks to our audience over there for tuning into this conversation.

[00:01:49] When we go into the client Q&A, we'll sign off on the reporting for the Political Life and proceed into that part of the conversation. So with that said, Will, welcome. Will, like I said, became the CEO of NCOIL on January 1st. He was formerly NCOIL's general counsel.

[00:02:12] Previous to his time at NCOIL, he was a regulatory officer in the Legislative and Regulatory Affairs Unit at the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance and worked in private practice as well. He also served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Paul Eskidon, and you can correct me if I've butchered that, at the Superior Court in Freehold, New Jersey.

[00:02:35] Will is a member of the New York and New Jersey Bars, having graduated cum laude from Turo Law School, where he served as editor-in-chief of the Moot Court Honors Board. And he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Connecticut. Welcome, Will. We are thrilled to see you. Yeah, thank you so much for having me. And that was very close on the judge that I clerked for. It's a Scandon.

[00:03:01] But I will give you congratulations on pronouncing my name correctly. That was job well done. A lot of times people will just say, well, with us here today is Will. Go ahead, Will. Will M. I practiced. I practiced. Well, a little bit about yourself. You've been at NCOIL a while, but previous to that time, we went through some of your law accolades. But what drew you to NCOIL? I believe it's New Jersey-based.

[00:03:30] That's where you're currently sitting and native. But anyway, how did you learn about NCOIL and what made you first want to join the team there? Sure. So really what happened was, as you mentioned in my previous work background at the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance, prior to that, after the clerkship, I spent a little bit of time in private practice. You know, I was enjoying it, but wasn't quite sure if that's what I wanted to do going forward.

[00:03:58] And then when a job opened up at the department, I thought that would be interesting just to kind of work, to have some hands-on experience in developing regulations, and then just by proximity to the legislative process as well. So I was working there for a few years and was enjoying it. And then when NCOIL was undergoing a change in administration, so what is now the then-CEO Commissioner Tom Considine,

[00:04:28] he was the former commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance. When he started here as NCOIL CEO, he was looking for an attorney to join him to build out his staff, and he approached me to see if I'd be interested in that. And really, I didn't know much about NCOIL, frankly. You know, working in the department, I was a little bit more focused on the regulatory aspect of things.

[00:04:57] So, but it was very interesting just the way he described things. And, you know, looking back, it's probably the best decision that I made, honestly, in my professional career. For a number of reasons. One, I was able to just learn so much from not only Tom, but others, whether they be state legislators or commissioners, interested parties, consumer advocates. And then really just to be a part of something that, you know, turned NCOIL around,

[00:05:24] that was, you know, was struggling a bit when Tom came on. And now, you know, we're lucky that it's grown and expanded into a better organization. I was going to ask about that. I remember sitting at CSG and when NCOIL was going through its change of administration, having some conversations about its future at the time. From that point in time, I think about 10, 15 years ago now, if I'm recalling it correctly,

[00:05:49] to today, what do you think have been the greatest strides or changes that you've made as an organization? And what do you envision as CEO, you know, the next kind of short-term or long-term goals that you'll have in your new role? Sure. So there's so many different things that I could point to that really changed throughout the past, you know, decade or so since Tom arrived and myself and others here.

[00:06:18] But I think a couple of things were really just a commitment to NCOIL's bipartisan nature. Because we're really, NCOIL is unique in that we are the only legislative organization, excuse me, bipartisan legislative organization that develops model laws and insurance. So when you put all those things together, a group that's comprised of legislators, that develops model laws and insurance,

[00:06:46] and that is bipartisan, that's what makes NCOIL unique and really stand out. And, you know, over the years, for a lot of reasons, I think the organization has kind of lost its way a little bit. But I think kind of a refocus, as oftentimes happens when there's new staff involved into that bipartisan nature. And then a dedication to developing more timely model laws.

[00:07:13] So I know when Tom arrived here, the organization underwent a SWAT exercise, strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. And one of the common complaints was that, you know, NCOIL is a little bit too reactive in response to what the NAIC is doing or other organizations.

[00:07:32] And so we really took that to heart and decided to be a little bit more aggressive, if you will, in kind of, you know, dealing with issues that are really cutting edge. And maybe no states have developed legislation on, but we took a proactive approach to put together some best practices or some guidance for states when those issues might arise in their legislatures. So you're building on a good thing.

[00:08:01] Any goals for 2025 that you've personally set that you're like, I am doing this the minute I get into that new job? We do jokingly say that Tom was notoriously a very picky eater. So whenever we had lunches or dinners, breakfast, what have you, at our national meetings or other sorts of dinners, it was either Italian or a steakhouse. That was it.

[00:08:28] So I'm looking forward to maybe expanding, get a little seafood in there, some other things. Yeah. But really, you know, in terms of vision for going forward, you know, we're lucky to have the organization on solid footing now. But we can always do better and we can always continue to grow because, you know, right now we've taken steps in growth.

[00:08:52] But right now there's only about 35 states that are members of NCOIL. And I'll probably get into a little bit of how NCOIL is structured. But, you know, there's no reason why that should not be over 40 and close to 50. And, you know, as good as the direction that the organization is on, there's still far too often there's times when we're out in states where we describe NCOIL to folks and they say, oh, I've never heard of NCOIL.

[00:09:21] Well, I've heard of the NAIC, but I'm not familiar with that. So we really like to just get NCOIL to a position where, you know, it's met on par really with the NAIC and other national organizations. And a good example of that is whenever there are federal hearings that deal with insurance at the committee level, you know, oftentimes the NAIC is kind of by default.

[00:09:45] They're invited as a witness, whether it's one of their staff members or one of their officers or just a commissioner representing the NAIC. And whenever we do our D.C. fly-ins, we always say, you know, please keep NCOIL in mind because, you know, we do our our members, our state lawmakers who are experts in insurance. And it would be great for the members of Congress to hear from their fellow lawmakers at the state level.

[00:10:13] So just the overall growth and membership and relevance, that's something that really just always has to be top of mind for us. You know, we can never rest on our laurels. Well, you just branched beautifully. And this will be my last question before Brock really dives into the policy of the organization. But, you know, for for our clients, who participates from those 35 states? I know it's open to all 50, but who are the the members who attend most regularly or serve on your committees?

[00:10:43] What are the committee focuses or major priorities and how and when do you do your work? So what are at a high level? How do you go through your model process and when does when does when do the members come together? Sure. So generally speaking, the like you said, all 50 states are members of NCOIL.

[00:11:07] And we meet three times per year across the country at our national meetings, the spring, summer and fall. And over the course of about three or four days, we have separate policy committees broken down by each line of insurance. And so we have a life insurance committee or health insurance and property and casualty. And the members of those committees are state legislators who typically either chair or they serve on their state insurance or financial services committee.

[00:11:35] Or in some states where health insurance is carved out, they have their own separate committee. It's not a requirement for legislators to participate in NCOIL that you have to be a member of those committees. But it makes the most sense that we see those legislators attend our meetings. And so at our national meetings, we predominantly we put on educational panels to really educate the policymakers on what the current and important insurance issues are.

[00:12:04] And we develop model laws, as you mentioned. And generally speaking, what we try and do is we try and operate on a calendar year basis in terms of developing a model law from introduction to adopting a model law. Now, that's not in our bylaws anywhere. But going back to that SWOT exercise that I mentioned several years ago, it was a common complaint at NCOIL that topics would remain on meeting agendas for far too long.

[00:12:33] Really, really just in an effort to candidly to attract people to come back to the meetings. But we realized that that was that that model was not working and it wasn't it didn't do it wasn't the right thing to do by the legislators and industry members. So we've tried to do is say, OK, we'll introduce an issue in the spring, further discuss it in the summer and then vote on it in the fall. Now, obviously, that's not a rigid rule.

[00:12:59] If we get a sense more time is needed, then we'll obviously take that time. But that's we've been operating that way for close to a decade and it has worked pretty well. Good changes. Well, Will, I kind of want to tee off of that a little bit and speak about the model legislation process. So you're coming off a really robust annual meeting in San Antonio that saw the adoption of five new model laws.

[00:13:25] And, you know, a few of those model laws required really deliberative engagements with stakeholders over decades of discussion, almost in some cases. And really considered, you know, what the respective committee subject matter expertise look like in formulating those. So I want to think specifically about the transparency of third party litigation financing model act. It's a really good example of how the deliberative process for the model legislation really came to be.

[00:13:50] Can you kind of provide a little bit of oversight in terms of, you know, what that model act does and how you will reach that end product? Sure. So that model is really a good example, again, of how NCOIL has evolved over the past decade, because actually going back to about maybe 15 years ago, the organization tried to develop a model law in that area.

[00:14:16] And it actually it got to a vote and it was going to pass, but only by one vote. And the chair and leadership said, you know, NCOIL is not really in a position right now to send a model to states that only, you know, eked by by one vote. So it ended up being withdrawn.

[00:14:37] And, you know, fast forward to now that issue is, you know, one of the most talked about issues in the insurance marketplace throughout the past several years. And one of our senior legislative members, Indiana representative Matt Lehman, he decided, you know, I think now is a good time to let's take another swing at this and see if we can get if we can develop a model.

[00:15:01] And, you know, the process was very deliberate and very thoughtful and really is illustrative of how transparent and how involved the process is. And by involved, I mean our model law development process is well is open to everyone.

[00:15:16] So throughout the past year, we heard from consumer advocates interested in this trial attorney representatives, insurance industry representatives, obviously the the trade associations that represent the litigation financers. And it wasn't easy. And there were some calls to actually maybe keep developing the model.

[00:15:42] But it's a really good example of there's a saying where, you know, you kind of know you have a good piece of legislation or in this case, model legislation where, you know, everyone leaves the room kind of sullen but not rebellious. So everyone's not extremely happy. But that kind of means, you know, everyone gave a little bit. Everyone didn't get everything that they wanted. So that really is that took a lot of work.

[00:16:06] And we're looking forward to seeing that introduced into state legislatures in this session and sessions beyond. Now, and that's really exciting. And I think it's a really good illustration of how the process and the model works to get to that end result. Cool. I know as part of this process, a lot of the times you all collaborate with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. And I would say, especially over the past decade, that relationship has gotten to a point that is really collaborative in nature. I mean, it's kind of a two part question.

[00:16:35] But, you know, from a high level perspective, what in your estimation are some of those key issues that you all are really looking to work with NAIC on? And then on the second end of that question is like artificial intelligence. NAIC is doing a little bit in that space. I mean, what's the future collaboration there with ENCOIL look like? Sure. And you're definitely correct about, you know, we have a great relationship and a great partnership with the NAIC.

[00:17:03] And that relationship has really evolved over the past several years and improved exponentially to where, you know, if you come to our meetings, we have something that's called an ENCOIL-NAIC dialogue, which is its own separate committee. But it doesn't develop any model laws or resolutions. It really is just an opportunity for our member legislators to, as the name indicates, engage in a dialogue with the commissioners that are attending our meetings.

[00:17:32] And several years ago, this is just a very small thing, but something that went a long way to improving the relationship. The commissioners during that dialogue were seated at the middle of the room where you would have invited speakers. So it was almost like they were we were eliciting testimony from them and treating them as witnesses.

[00:17:54] But several years ago, when Tom came along, he actually moved the commissioners to either the left side or right side of the U-shape where the legislators sit. You know, they're a co-equal branch of government. And that was just a small gesture, though, but really went a long way into saying that, you know, we're partners in in in preserving the state based system of insurance. And it does us no good to, you know, to fight.

[00:18:23] That does that doesn't mean that we have to agree on everything. And we definitely don't. But really, everyone is better served when there is a level of of collegiality between the organizations. And in terms of issues that I think, you know, we'll be working on going forward. You know, I mentioned the state based system of insurance. That's always number one on on each of our respective organizations priority list.

[00:18:49] And overall, the state based system itself and the consumer is better served when you have legislators and regulators who kind of see eye to eye on things. And this this year actually celebrates the 80th year, 80th anniversary of the McCarran Ferguson Act, which, as you know, grant states the authority to regulate the business of insurance.

[00:19:12] And I think we're going to be working with the NIC to perhaps pen some sort of op ed that kind of celebrates the organizations as well as the state based system. So we look forward to doing that this year. And then, yeah, artificial intelligence. It wouldn't be any sort of legal, political, regulatory webinar without AI being brought up. So it's definitely an issue that we've been involved with throughout the past several years.

[00:19:40] And one, I think we're going to be taking a little bit more of an active role this year under the leadership of our new president, New York Assemblywoman Pam Hunter. She has an interest in using some legislation that has either been enacted into law or has been introduced across the country that kind of takes two different forms.

[00:20:03] One is it either just requires notice to consumers that AI has been used in making medical determinations, such as utilization review and things of that nature. And then some states have enacted laws that actually just require medical professionals to make those determinations and prohibit AI from doing that.

[00:20:28] So I think we'll be using those bills and laws as a starting point to perhaps develop some model policy in that area. And, you know, we have been we've been closely following the work of the NIC that they've been doing the past few years that really culminated in their adoption of their model bulletin dealing with insurers use of artificial intelligence. And, you know, there are a lot of positive provisions in that.

[00:20:54] But there was one thing that we that our members kind of took exception to, for lack of a better term, which was, you know, our members as legislators always want to be. They always want to ensure that any sort of regulations, whether they be regulations themselves or bulletins, that the terms used in those documents are grounded in statute.

[00:21:17] And there was a little bit of a problem where that bulletin uses terms like bias or unintentional bias, which we kind of understand the intent of what that's getting at. But those words aren't found in the insurance code. So, you know, we had an ongoing dialogue with them, you know, very respectful. Ultimately, those terms were kept in.

[00:21:38] And there were some improvements made, but it's an example of how it is an ongoing partnership between us and how our members really do take seriously their role in kind of ensuring that any sort of work of the NAIC is properly grounded in statutory code. And so that's that's something that won't change going forward, but it will be done in a, you know, in a nice way and in a collegial way.

[00:22:08] Now, that's really great to hear. And, you know, it almost makes me think about one issue in particular that I know both NAIC and Incoil are actively looking, and I would really appreciate Incoil's perspective here. But at the last annual meeting in San Antonio, the issue of ERISA preemption came up, and it was a really well-constructed dialogue that occurred. And it was a subject matter hearing that looked into, right, the 50th anniversary of ERISA.

[00:22:31] And really, are there or will there ever be any state lines of engagement for, you know, state insurance lawmakers to have any type of oversight of ERISA plans? So, you know, recognizing kind of that as the backdrop, I mean, where do you see the ERISA preemption conversation heading in the coming year? And in particular, given Incoil's, you know, advocacy efforts on the Hill, how do you all think Congress might engage or entertain such a conversation?

[00:23:00] So it's great timing for this question, because there has been some recent developments in that area on the on the federal level as early as this morning, actually. But just taking a quick step back in terms of kind of Incoil's view on ERISA, you know, our members have felt very strongly the past several years that, you know, ERISA, it's grown far beyond its original intent of, you know, 50 years ago, it was enacted as a pension reform law.

[00:23:30] And now it's really transformed into a barrier for states that are looking to enact meaningful state health care reform laws. And the word meaningful is important because if you look at when ERISA was enacted 50 years ago, there were about 7 percent of employees had coverage through self-funded plans. But now as of 2019, that number ballooned all the way up to 61 percent.

[00:23:59] And we actually think it might be higher since 2019. Those are the latest numbers that we have. So what that leads to is that when our members, when they are trying to enact state health care policy, you know, there are a number of different examples you could point to. But let's say if a state wanted to enact some sort of benefit mandate, that's only applicable to a tiny sliver of their state's population.

[00:24:25] So what our members have advocated for, and this is sort of pursuant to the state's rules, laboratories of democracy, but also parallels what's in others' federal health care laws, such as the ACA or Medicaid, where there are waiver processes for states to utilize when they're looking to enact certain sort of health care policy laws.

[00:24:52] So we have a proposal that would allow states to apply to the Department of Labor and the Secretary of Health and Human Services with a piece of health care policy that they'd like to have enacted throughout the state. And then, you know, there are other provisions that we have to flesh out in the proposal.

[00:25:12] But ultimately, we think that such a process would, again, be in line with other federal health care laws and be in line with states' proper role to regulate insurance. And so part two in terms of the positive developments. So we've been discussing this when we have our annual fly-ins for the past seven or eight years.

[00:25:35] And just recently, Congressman Pete Sessions, he's expressed interest in introducing this in the upcoming session. So we've been having active discussions with him and his staff and getting something introduced. So hopefully you'll be seeing something, you know, in your inboxes soon. Well, that's really exciting.

[00:25:57] And I do have to ask, just because as, you know, someone who's worked in Medicaid for a number of years, I mean, really what you're looking at is like a similar waiver process as to what Section 1115 of the Social Security Act offers in Medicaid services, right? Like a waiver of federal requirements as long as it advances the objectives of the program. And so it seems like that's kind of the same principle or, you know, purpose in terms of what this is trying to accomplish as well. Is that right? Exactly. Yeah, that's the best analogy to use.

[00:26:26] And that's something we've used in discussions and in meetings, 1115 waivers, 1332 waivers. It's not like this is some, you know, abstract concept that's kind of being introduced for the first time. So we think there's enough experience out there to kind of draw parallels from us to, hey, this has worked before in states. This should be able to work again. Well, thank you very much, Will. I appreciate the nuanced answers to the good questions. And thank you very much for the time. But Maggie, I'll pass it back to you.

[00:26:57] Thanks, Brock. And Brock, tomorrow you are headed to Washington, as is Will, for a private sector roundtable. I think it's a way that you kick off every new year at Incoil. For the private sector partners that will be there, any previews for that conversation? And more globally, how can stakeholders get engaged with Incoil in 2025? So happy to talk about that.

[00:27:27] So in 2025 and beyond, you know, the most obvious way to participate at Incoil is to attend our three national meetings, because those are attended by all the interested parties, consumer advocates, state legislators and regulators. But outside of that, we also have a separate what we call our corporate and institutional partners program, what we call CIP for short.

[00:27:54] And that's something that has been around for the past seven or eight years. And it's really based on similar programs that other similar organizations have, like CSG or NCSL, where certain companies or organizations can join the program at different levels. And based upon your membership level, there's certain benefits like complimentary registrations at our national meetings, opportunities to write columns in our monthly newsletters.

[00:28:22] And then also we have, apart from our three national meetings, we have two separate CIP meetings throughout the year. The first one, which is just in a couple of days in D.C., is attended by Incoil staff and CIP members. And it's an opportunity for CIP members to provide feedback on the year that was and the year that is up ahead.

[00:28:48] And it's general comments as to how the organization is doing in terms of membership and things like that and strategy. Then also we go committee by committee and talk about things that we anticipate working on or that we don't. And the CIP members can really provide candid feedback on, well, these are some topics we think the organization should be discussing or should not be.

[00:29:16] And then we also have a similar meeting in early June of each year, which is a similar structure. And it's kind of a mid-year check-in, but that's also attended by our officers as well as our committee chairs and vice chairs. So the tone of the conversation is a little different, but we follow the same format. Well, I'm sure it's going to be a great discussion.

[00:29:41] Well, we're going to sign off for our Political Life audience and thank them for listening to this conversation. And I'm sure that many of them, if they know you, are wishing you the best in your new role. And we'll open it up for Q&A from our clients.

[00:29:59] And so Brock and I will look at the chat to see if we see anything in there and give it a moment to see if we've got any questions for you, Will. In terms of life in New Jersey, while we're seeing if there are any questions that come through, how do you spend your non-Inquil hours?

[00:30:28] Well, first and foremost, I've been very busy. My wife and I chasing around our four-year-old son. So that's been an adventure. I just started preschool in September. It's just been so great, but as you can imagine, just a lot of work. And then outside of that, I love running and I love cycling. Right now, though, with this weather, I'm definitely a big advocate of the Peloton.

[00:30:57] I think it's a great investment if you're on the fence about getting one, and especially if you're in cold climates. Don't think twice about it. You should get it. Yeah. Good endorsement. Well, I don't see any questions in the chat, and we've given due time. So we will let you get back to your second week and your big new job. And we really appreciate the time that you've extended to our clients and to us for those conversations. And we just wish you all the very best in this new role.

[00:31:26] And we're very excited for the future of Inquil. It's in very capable hands. Thank you very much. Very nice of you to say that and really enjoy getting to know you and Brock the past several months and look forward to continuing that relationship. And, Brock, I'll see you soon. Sounds good. Thanks, all. Thank you. Thanks, Will.