Besides its 15-year length, the House bill adds group life to the insurance lines covered by the federal program. The House bill also requires insurers to provide coverage for nuclear, biological, chemical and radiological (NBCR) terrorist acts. The Senate committee bill, approved 20-1, doesn’t include group life and only calls for a Government Accountability Office study of NBCR insurance.
Industry wants Congress to act soon to extend the backstop, which expires on Dec. 31. “We just want to get a workable bill passed in time before the end of the year,” says a source.