Tom Harkin: “I have been, for some time, trying to bring up an amendment that has been filed which deals with a kind of, some might…”

“I have been, for some time, trying to bring up an amendment that has been filed which deals with a kind of, some might say, a little-known part of the insurance industry, called indexed annuities. A little bit of background. Indexed annuities have been sold for some time. They are an annuity that people would buy, and there is an upside limit. In other words, if the S&P index goes up by, let's say, 500 percent, the holder of the annuity does not get all of that 500 percent; the insurance company gets a big portion of that. But in exchange for that, there is no downside risk. The holder of that annuity, if the S&P goes down 500 percent, doesn't lose anything if held to its term. It has been a very valuable instrument for a lot of people to have these indexed annuities. During the recent recession of 2008 and 2009, no one lost any capital in any of their indexed annuities based on the stock market going down. They lost nothing because they had that downside protection.”