Commissioner, Arkansas Insurance Department
Allen W. Kerr previously served three terms in the Arkansas House of Representatives, where he was chairman of the Joint Committee on Public Retirement & Social Security Programs and served on a variety of other committees, subcommittees and task forces, including the State & Public Schools’ Life & Health Insurance Program Legislative Task Force.
Kerr has over three decades of experience in insurance and financial services. He opened the Allen Kerr Insurance Agency in March 1981. In 2013, the agency was purchased by Delta Trust & Bank, which was later purchased by Simmons Bank. The agency became Simmons First Insurance, with Kerr serving as president.
Kerr was appointed Arkansas insurance commissioner on Jan. 13, 2015, by Gov. Asa Hutchinson.
If your friend asked you about flood insurance, what would you advise?
Purchase it. As we have seen in recent events in our state and others, you do not have to be in a flood zone to be subject to flooding. Flood insurance is the most underutilized coverage available in Arkansas. Affordable flood insurance is more available today than ever before.
Just because you are not in a flood zone as designated by the national flood maps doesn’t mean you don’t need flood insurance. That is why we are working with our federal delegation to allow for more private insurers to offer flood insurance.
What are the most common kinds of insurance fraud your department investigates?
Our Criminal Investigation Division is composed of very professional prosecuting attorneys and law enforcement personnel. We are focused on prosecuting instances of fraudulent insurance acts in all lines.
Our most recent convictions have involved staged car crashes, purchasing insurance after an accident then filing a claim, workers’ compensation fraud, fake auto insurance cards, and an individual keeping the proceeds of pre-need funeral policy sales.
How does the uncertainty over President Trump’s health care policies affect the Arkansas Insurance Department?
The elimination of cost-sharing reduction payments has certainly resulted in an increase in premiums for plan year 2018. The department has advocated for a restoration — or at least a tapering-off period — of these payments to spare Arkansans sticker shock. It is up to Congress to address this issue.
From a wider perspective, the department had one simple message to the federal government at the start of the current administration: Return power to the states to manage their private insurance markets and enhance their health care systems. We do not merely seek flexibility within a federal regulatory framework; we seek the freedom to again fully exercise our roles and responsibility to regulate the health insurance industry. The department is working with the state Department of Human Services and the Department of Workforce Services on a study on how to strengthen the health care landscape in Arkansas. States regulated health insurance before the Affordable Care Act, and we are ready to do so again.
You’ve supported the push for companies to start their own insurance subsidiaries, known as captives, which are similar to self-funded insurance plans. How is that effort going?
Captives are a way for companies to reduce their insurance costs and manage their risks more efficiently. We have seen an uptick in Arkansas companies seeking more information from us on forming a captive insurance subsidiary, and we have aggressively engaged companies outside Arkansas to consider locating their captive insurance subsidiaries in the Natural State.
The industry knows Arkansas is a place that is welcoming to their business. This is chiefly due to the exceptional efforts of our Finance Division. We look at insurance companies as clients and our Finance Division provides exceptional customer service.
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