Hey Reddit — I’m Patrick Wolff. I’m running for California Insurance Commissioner and I’m here live for the next hour to answer your questions. You can learn more at my website: https://patrickwolff.com/ California’s insurance system is under serious strain: carriers pulling out of the state, skyrocketing premiums, growing reliance on the FAIR Plan, and consumers and agents caught in the middle. I’m focused on fixing what’s broken and rebuilding a stable, competitive insurance market that actually works for Californians.
Ask me anything about:
Insurance reform in California
The FAIR Plan
Market withdrawals and carrier exits
Rate pressure and affordability
What the Insurance Commissioner does
My campaign and priorities
Let’s get into it.
Source: wolffonyourside
13 Comments
Hello, thanks for doing this AMA. I have two questions:
1) How has climate change impacted insurance rates in California, and how do you anticipate it will continue to as we continue in to the remainder of the 21st century?
2) Why is California’s insurance commissioner an elected position in the first place?
Canada’s single payer plan did not start with the federal government. The individual provinces, starting with Saskatchewan, introduced Medicare before it was federalized in 1984.
What can you do as insurance commissioner to bring about a state based single payer system in the richest state in the nation? Do you support single payer/universal healthcare programs as funded by the state to remove the profit motive, and thus save the populace thousands of dollars yearly?
Would a California single payer system solve the issues residents face with health insurance or insurance in general?
Do you believe in publicly owned private companies?
How would you address skyrocketing home insurance in identified high fire risk areas? (isn’t that everywhere and why we have insurance in the first place?) Home owners are asked to meet fire standards with no reductions in their plans when met. I drive through urban settings with trees and flamables within their 5 foot home borders? Should fire safe standards and rates be applied to all structures regardless of location? Are Insurance Companies insured for fire losses? Is CA insured for fire losses? How does that impact the insured Californian….?
When are we just going to do the right thing and move to single-payer?
GM Wolff,
What is your opinion of the Bongcloud Attack, and how could the theory behind it be used to improve California’s insurance department (or make it worse)?
How closely will you work with the Governor’s office and the legislature to implement insurance reform? Do you have the power to act almost unilaterally?
In office, what will be your plan to make health insurance work better for Californians? Federal reform seems unlikely right now
I’m interested in a candidate that understands that the job of the commissioner should be to protect consumers. The department has given huge increases for rates on Autos and allowed for increases on the Home side as well. Stipulations are that companies will take more of their fair share of brush properties. Some companies are still not open for new business, none are opening their fire lines, and Auto rates in Los Angeles county are disproportionately suffering significantly higher rates than elsewhere in the state. Too much emphasis is on climate change, not enough on immediate relief on rates and forcing open the markets. How will you get this done.
So whats your plan
Do you feel that the potential requirement for “Guaranteed Coverage” for homes scare away the few remaining insurers we have in this state?
Patrick, thanks for doing an AMA. What is your response to California having the slowest rate review/approval process for insurers in the United States? Does this concern you?
would dental, vision, and hearing be included in it?
In a lot of your response regarding single-payer, you say that people with employer-provided/subsidized plans won’t want to give give up their plans. Why do you say this – is there some collection of studies that finds this is a public sentiment? Are we assuming that a single-payer program would be more expensive to individuals than employer-provided plans? Why is “giving up” their health insurance even how it’s characterized? It’s not like they’d actually lose coverage.