Washington Insurance Commissioner's Race

09/09/2008

Have you ever read the fine print on your insurance policies? If not you're probably not alone. That's one reason why Washington State has the Office of Insurance Commissioner: To regulate insurance companies and make sure consumers get what they pay for. But it's also becoming a bully pulpit for healthcare reform. Correspondent Austin Jenkins reports on the race for Insurance Commissioner.

MIKE KREIDLER IS A DEMOCRAT SEEKING HIS THIRD TERM AS WASHINGTON STATE INSURANCE COMMISSIONER. A FORMER OPTOMETRIST, KREIDLER SAYS HIS TOP GOAL IF RE–ELECTED IS TO ENACT MAJOR HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM.

KREIDLER: "If I don't do it, who does? I regulate the health insurance in the State of Washington. I'm in a position to see the problems and the challenges we have. I'm in a position also to help provide some leadership."

KREIDLER HAS A PLAN TO PROVIDE HEALTH INSURANCE TO ALL WASHINGTONIANS, INCLUDING THE MORE THAN 700,000 CURRENTLY UNINSURED. HE WANTS LAWMAKERS, THEN VOTERS TO APPROVE A NEW PAYROLL TAX: ONE PERCENT FOR EMPLOYEES, THREE TO FIVE PERCENT FOR EMPLOYERS. HE SAYS THIS WOULD PAY FOR ALL WASHINGTON STATE RESIDENTS TO GET CATASTROPHIC COVERAGE FOR HEALTH EMERGENCIES OVER $10,000 A YEAR. ADDITIONALLY, EVERYONE WOULD ALSO GET SOME PREVENTATIVE CARE, INCLUDING ANNUAL CHECK UPS AND DENTAL CLEANINGS, IMMUNIZATIONS AND CANCER SCREENINGS. COVERAGE WOULD STILL BE HANDLED THROUGH PRIVATE INSURANCE COMPANIES. KREIDLER EMPHASIZES HIS PROPOSAL IS NOT HEALTHCARE REFORM WRIT LARGE.

KREIDLER: "I look at it more as health insurance reform. I'm reforming the health insurance system and how it works. Are there changes you can make in the insurance system so it functions better than what we have today so that people can have peace of mind and the kind of financial security that is so lacking now."

KREIDLER HAS AN AMBITIOUS GOAL OF GETTING HIS PLAN PASSED IN NEXT YEAR'S LEGISLATIVE SESSION. BUT HE ADMITS HE DOESN'T YET HAVE THE COALITION OF THE WILLING HE NEEDS IN THE LEGISLATURE TO SUCCEED. KREIDLER'S OPPONENT IS REPUBLICAN JOHN ADAMS. HE OWNS HIS OWN INSURANCE AGENCY THAT SPECIALIZES IN COVERING BOAT OWNERS. HE WARNS THE COST OF THE KREIDLER PLAN COULD PUT SOME EMPLOYERS OUT OF BUSINESS. HE DOES NOT, HOWEVER, OFFER HIS OWN COMPETING HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM PACKAGE.

ADAMS: "I would certainly be available to suggest changes that would increase competition in this state. And work with the legislature, you know the solution is really going to have to be a national one if people are really serious about getting a universal health coverage."

ADAMS SAY AS COMMISSIONER HE INSTEAD WOULD FOCUS ON LAWSUIT REFORM, HE'D BRING DOWN THE PRICE OF PRESCRIPTION DRUGS AND INCREASE COMPETITION IN THE HEALTH INSURANCE MARKET. ADAMS SAYS HE WOULD PERSONALLY TRY TO CONVINCE MORE HEALTH INSURERS TO DO BUSINESS IN WASHINGTON STATE. CURRENTLY, THERE ARE JUST THREE MAJOR PROVIDERS: PREMERA, REGENCE AND GROUP HEALTH. HE REMEMBERS THE DAYS WHEN THERE WERE MORE.

ADAMS: "What did we do to them that really made them go away? I've never spoke to them. But I know who they are or some of them at least. And I want to talk to them and see what was their main gripe that drove them out of the state?"

KREIDLER SAYS IT'S NOT THAT SIMPLE.

KREIDLER: "You want to make sure that you don't wind up with people who come in and just take the healthy people and say we don't want any of those people who are older and sicker."

IN MANY RESPECTS, THE JOB OF INSURANCE COMMISSIONER IS A BALANCING ACT: PROTECT CONSUMERS WHILE ENSURING COMPANIES REMAIN SOLVENT SO THEY CAN PAY CLAIMS. KRIEDLER SAYS HE'S SAVED CONSUMERS $200 MILLION SINCE TAKING OFFICE. HE WARNS AGAINST PUTTING SOMEONE FROM THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY IN THE ROLE OF WATCHDOG. ADAMS RESPONDS HE TOO WOULD ACT AS A CONSUMER ADVOCATE. AND SAYS IT'S TIME FOR SOMEONE WITH AN INSURANCE BACKGROUND IN THE OFFICE.

ADAMS: "I couldn't be a good optometrist. He could. He was trained that way and I was trained as an insurance person."

IN THE END THIS IS KREIDLER'S RACE TO LOSE. ADAMS SAYS HE'S A SERIOUS CANDIDATE, BUT HE'S NOT ACTIVELY RAISING MONEY FOR HIS CAMPAIGN. I'M AUSTIN JENKINS IN OLYMPIA.

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