In the race for the top spot in the state’s Insurance Department, the president has become a political target. The race for the 2018 California insurance commissioner position is heating up and President Trump has become one of the central campaign political targets. State Senator Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) has placed the spotlight on Trump and his policies. Lara placed the focus of his first ad running for California insurance commissioner on a depiction of Trump as being anti-female, anti-immigration, anti-healthcare and a denier of climate change. He called for…
Read MoreTag: California
Will the California insurance commissioner be state Sen. Ricardo Lara in 2018?
Lara announced that he will be running for the position next year on the heels of a state health care system proposal. Senator Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) announced his intention to run for California insurance commissioner in 2018. This, only one month after submitting a proposal for a single-payer state health care system. This makes Lara one of four Democrats who have filed the documents necessary to start fundraising. These papers make it possible for possible California insurance commissioner candidates to begin fundraising for their campaigns. Lara’s announcement came with…
Read MoreWill California flood insurance be better without federal involvement?
The state is considering dropping out of the nationwide program in favor of establishing its own. California flood insurance found itself in the spotlight last month when the Oroville Dam threatened to fail. Erosion at the base of the dam’s emergency spillway forced the evacuation of 180,000 people until the area could be deemed safe again. This event greatly increased awareness of the importance of flood insurance within that part of the state. Helicopters were used to place massive boulders to plug the failing emergency spillway. This allowed the state…
Read MoreCalifornia health care bill calls for state-run system
Looking forward to Congress’s likely repeal of the Affordable Care Act, the state is considering alternatives. The California health care system may be turned on its head if the Affordable Care Act is repealed. A state senator is looking to establish a state-run single-payer system through newly introduced legislation. This alternative system would allow the state to conduct the negotiations with providers and other companies. The proposed single-payer California health care system would have the state negotiating their own prices with providers and pharmaceutical companies among others. This would allow…
Read MoreCalifornia Insurance Commissioner granted greater homeowners coverage authority
The state’s Supreme Court ruled that the legislature gave California power to make certain specifications. The California Insurance Commissioner has the authority to decide which factors must be covered by homeowners insurance replacement cost estimate tools, says a state Supreme Court ruling. This will allow the commissioner to say what estimate tools home insurance companies are permitted to use. The decision updated a law from 2011 which was meant to help to reduce the ongoing underinsurance problem in the state. The original issue became truly problematic in 1991 when the…
Read More209,000 California insurance jobs could disappear from ACA repeal
The state has hired former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder as outside counsel to overcome this challenge. As the Republican party launches its efforts to deconstruct the Affordable Care Act (ACA), a recent study suggests massive damage to California insurance jobs. In fact, the research indicated that the state could see losses of over 200,000 insurance and health care positions from an ACA repeal. Repealing the federal health care reform could also slash an annual $20.5 billion from the California economy. These forecasts were produced by the UC Berkeley Center…
Read MoreZenefits California insurance company must pay $7 million fine
The insurer was charged the fine by the state’s regulator for the use of certain software to illegally license staff. California insurance company, Zenefits, is now facing a fine of $7 million from the state’s regulator. This fine is primarily the result of the insurer’s use of software that made it possible to complete the pre-licensing coursework in a period of time below the state requirement. The California Department of Insurance penalized the health insurer with the multimillion dollar fine, last week. As a result, Zenefits is now facing one…
Read More