Candidates for Washington insurance commissioner disagree over health care, gun liability

Sep. 29—It's been 24 years since Washington elected a new insurance commissioner.

Last year, outgoing Commissioner Mike Kreidler announced he would not seek re-election. His departure came as no surprise after he fell under public scrutiny for reportedly using racist language when speaking with a job applicant and allegedly firing a whistleblower.

A crowded primary election in August narrowed the contest to take Kreidler's place down to two finalists, both of whom have served in the Washington State Senate since 2017.

The state insurance commissioner plays a big part in deciding how much Washington residents pay for car, health and home insurance. The office of the insurance commissioner holds the keys to approve or deny proposed insurance company rate increases in the state.

Republican Phil Fortunato and Democrat Patty Kuderer differ on whether Washington should move in the direction of public health care.

Fortunato, 71, believes private health insurance is the best thing for consumers, he said, because competition in the market will keep costs down. He said public health care will drive up wait times.

"The only thing that keeps Medicare afloat is everybody else paying full price," he said in an interview. "I never paid less for health care than when I didn't have insurance. You wanna see Medicare for all? Just look at the VA system. My first three sons are all veterans, and it's a joke trying to get medical care through the VA system. Three months for a dental appointment."

Fortunato, of Auburn, said insurance rates in the state are skyrocketing because of uninsured drivers.

"What percentage of uninsured drivers are illegal aliens?" he said. "There's loads of anecdotal evidence. But we don't have any hardcore evidence. I would like to know that."

Along with pushing to keep insurance markets private, Fortunato wants to use the commissioner's office to fight for Second Amendment protection groups. He denounced a law Kuderer previously tried to pass that would require mandatory liability insurance for gun owners in the state.

The state's recently established, controversial long-term care tax has also drawn a stark contrast between Fortunato and Kuderer. Fortunato doesn't like the WA Cares Fund and said if he's elected, he would work to get rid of it.

Kuderer, 66, supports it.

"Long-term care is the only health care that is exempt from Obamacare," Kuderer said. "You can have lifetime caps, and you can deny people for pre-existing conditions."

Kuderer, of Bellevue, added that the program will extend the state's pool of Medicaid dollars by supporting people who need support that isn't covered by long-term care insurance.

Health care would be Kuderer's main focus if she gets elected. While in the Legislature, she said she voted in favor of creating a universal health care task force workgroup, as well as a universal health care commission in the state.

"I'd like to be more actively engaged in helping us move in that direction," Kuderer said. "It won't be easy — it won't be fast. It will be slowly, over time, with short-term, midrange and long-term goals. I do think in our country it's inevitable. People are demanding we move in that direction."

Kuderer added that medical bankruptcy is the most common type of bankruptcy in the state.

"I think that is very telling about our health care system," Kuderer said.

The Washington Insurance Commissioner serves a four-year term and makes roughly $138,000 annually.

General election ballots will be mailed in mid-October for the Nov. 5 election. For more information and coverage of the upcoming general elections, visit The Spokesman-Review's election landing page online.

Ellen Dennis' work is funded in part by members of the Spokane community via the Community Journalism and Civic Engagement Fund. This story can be republished by other organizations for free under a Creative Commons license. For more information on this, please contact our newspaper's managing editor.

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