OIC Answers on Insurance

The Office of the Insurance Commissioner deployed staff to the Disaster Assistance Center at Shadle Park High School immediately after the Spokane Complex Fire started in early August.
On this episode of the OIC Answers podcast, the two OIC staffers who spent the most time in Spokane helping with fire recovery discuss what they saw, what they learned, the benefits of having insurance companies send representatives to the DAC to help with claims, and what people might not realize about their home insurance until it’s too late.

On this episode of OIC Answers, hosts Aaron VanTuyl and Matt Baide provide a quick update on the OIC's response to the Spokane Complex Fires.
Staff from the agency's consumer advocacy team will be on hand to answer questions and help fire survivors at the Shadle Park Disaster Assistance Center starting the morning of Thursday, August 6.
Note: The Shadle Park insurance information event, originally scheduled for August 5, has been cancelled.

Everybody has car insurance, or at least they should. But once you sign up and fork over that first monthly premium, you get a big envelope full of information. What’s it all mean? What’s the difference between comprehensive and collision? Is there really “full coverage?”
On this episode of the OIC Answers podcast, Amy Teshera from our Consumer Protection team walks us through every coverage option for your auto insurance and explains what it covers, when you’d need it, and when it probably isn’t a smart financial decision.

If an insurance company wants to change the base rate for its home or auto policies in Washington state, it has to file the change with the Office of the Insurance Commissioner. But what are those rates, really, and what authority does the OIC have to approve or disapprove them? Why do they change, and what type of analysis is involved in the review process?
On this episode of OIC Answers, hosts Aaron and Matt welcome on the agency’s lead property and casualty actuary to explain the science and standards behind the P&C rate review process.

Jane Beyer has had a hand in almost every major piece of health policy legislation in Washington for the last 40 years. The OIC’s Senior Health Policy Advisor retires in June, capping a career that’s included separate stints running Medicaid and the Behavioral Health Administration for DSHS, helping implement the Affordable Care Act and the Health Benefits Exchange, establishing the Washington State Vaccine Association and developing protections against balance billing.
On this episode of the OIC Answers podcast, Beyer sits down with Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer to talk about her career, her most important accomplishments, the future of health policy and what type of challenges await the OIC’s next health policy expert.