Glad To Be Home from NCOIL

I spent most of last week at the National Conference of Insurance Legislators annual meeting in New Orleans. We stayed at the Royal Sonesta Hotel on Bourbon Street which was also where the conference meetings were. It was a nice hotel located right in the middle of all of the Bourbon Street activities. The best part of the trip was the food. We ate at several real good restaurants and cafes. Sunday morning before heading back to Arkansas I ate breakfast at Mena's Cafe partly because I had heard it was good food and partly just because I represent Mena and thought it would be fun.

The conference was a little disappointing. There were several items on the agenda dealing with health care reform and I had hoped to get a briefing on what was going on in Washington. It seemed to me likely that they had time to have worked up a briefing. There was some good discussion on the likelihood of a federal "Office of Insurance" or some variation of such. I am opposed to that concept. While the financial services industry melted down under federal supervision the state regulated insurance industry continues strong and healthy.

I was very happy to be back in Arkansas when the plane touched down in Little Rock last night. I was glad to see Debbie and her puppies.