Insurance Commissioner – Vote for Mike Kreidler (Incumbent, Democrat)

Seattle Times: Kreidler
Post Intelligencer: Kreidler

The Seattle Times calls Adams a “token challenger.” But at the same time, they endorse Kreidler with some observations:

During the recent good years…the major health insurers — Premera, Regence and Group Health — piled up surpluses by the hundreds of millions. This page raised an alarm about that several years ago…Our thought was that the state had created a kind of economic umbrella, and that under its shade the three big insurers had been liberal about raising rates, and not as competitive as the people had a right to expect…Kreidler did fight back when Premera wanted to convert to a stock company and sell shares on Wall Street. He fought the company in court, and won — at considerable expense — what we thought was a huge victory for consumers.

Kreidler: Proposed, and got passed, a law that expands authority to review proposed rate increases for regulated health care products. Guaranteed Health Benefit Plan proposal would not require employers to provide health care, but would have everyone covered whether working or unemployed.

Adams: Would review reserves and expenses of the major three health insurers to determine rate increases/decreases. Believes competition is necessary to bring down premiums. Would encourage looking at a true catastrophic illness and injury program for all employed workers.