OIC wants your help to make our website more user-friendly!

Now that open enrollment is over, we want to fine-tune the individuals and families section of our health insurance webpages. 

You can help by taking a short survey. It takes less than 15 minutes to complete and your responses are anonymous. We will use your feedback to better organize the information that we provide to consumers. The survey is open until May 19.

Thanks for your help making our website easier to use!

Fraud prosecutor wins Award of Excellence

The Office of the Insurance Commissioner congratulates King County Deputy Prosecutor Andy Hamilton on his Award of Excellence from the national Coalition Against Insurance Fraud. Hamilton works with the Insurance Commissioner’s Special Investigations Unit to prosecute criminal insurance fraud cases in King County. Hamilton has prosecuted more than 55 cases involving more than $5.5 million in losses, including convicted felons Edward Callow and Kevin Kolenda.

Hamilton, who has worked as an assistant U.S. attorney and Deputy Prosecutor for more than 30 years, works in the King County Prosecutor’s economic crimes unit and was a police officer for four years before he earned his law degree.

Andy Hamilton accepts an Award of Excellence from the national 

Coalition Against Insurance Fraud 

from Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler on May 5. 

OIC seeks smart, savvy health care policy advisor

The OIC is hiring a highly skilled Senior Health Policy Advisor to acts as Commissioner Kreidler's primary advisor on all issues related to health care and health insurance issues, including the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

This position is the Commissioner's trusted advisor and designee on ACA policy matters and other matters related to health insurance. This position is responsible for developing policy options for the resolution of health insurance issues. Once executive decisions are made concerning the purpose and scope of an initiative, this position will develop programs or initiatives reflected in work products such as reports, legislation or regulations.

Duties of this position include:

• Acts as the first point-of-contact for consumer advocates and consumer/labor groups on matters pertaining to the ACA and other health insurance issues; 
• Coordinates with the Governor's Office, Health Benefits Exchange (HBE), HCA and others on ACA implementation issues and other health coverage related issues and projects; 
• Acts as the point-of-contact for legislative staff and member inquiries on ACA and other health insurance issues; 
• Represents the Commissioner and agency at speaking engagements and meetings related to healthcare issues. Meetings may include, but are not limited to: Health Benefits Exchange Board, National Association of Insurance Commissioner (NAIC) , Governor's Health Leadership Team, legislative hearings, rule-making and legislation stakeholdering; 
• Analyzes existing and proposed laws, rules and proposals concerning health insurance legislation, preparing recommendations as needed for executive decision-making; 
• Develops strategies, initiatives and recommendations to solve priority health insurance issues; and, 
• Communicates and works with representatives from the insurance industry, public agencies, legislature and the public in development of initiatives to solve health insurance issues. 

View a full list of duties and apply here: Senior Health Policy Advisor (Civil Service Exempt)

Help us improve our Medicare webpages!

We are in the process of conducting a usability study on the Insurance Commissioner's Medicare webpages. We want to hear from consumers how we can organize the pages and content in a way that makes sense to you. All it takes is 10-15 minutes to take a simple online survey. The survey is open through May 1. 

Your feedback is very important, so please take a few minutes to help us improve our site!

Online services unavailable Saturday, April 25

The Insurance Commissioner's online services will be unavailable Saturday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Our website, www.insurance.wa.gov, will be available, but people will not be able to access the following applications accessed through our site:

• Licensing services
• Complaints
• SHIBA online
• Insurance company and agent lookup
• Rate transparency

The city is relocating the underground fiber network cables as part of a road construction project, which will disrupt our computer networks. 

Insurance needs are a factor in retirement planning

This week is National Retirement Planning Week, organized by the National Retirement Planning Coalition. The group aims to help people create a comprehensive plan for retirement, which can seem daunting or, for some, too far away to contemplate. Its website, www.retireonyourterms.org, offers tools based on your age, retirement and saving calculators and plenty of information about ways you can be prepared for retirement.

Insurance needs also should be factored into your retirement plans. Medicare plans carry a cost for premiums, doctor visits, prescription drugs and hospitalizations. However, Medicare typically does not cover long-term care, so some people opt for long-term care insurance to pay for home health care, adult day care, nursing home care or group-living facility care.

If you are considering annuities as part of your retirement planning, we have information about the benefits, the types of annuities and payouts.

Questions? You can contact our consumer advocates online or at 1-800-562-6900.

Thank you to our SHIBA volunteers!

Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler meets SHIBA volunteers from South Sound Outreach in October 2014

In honor of National Volunteer Month, we’re recognizing the more than 400 people who volunteer their time to our Statewide Health Insurance Benefits Advisors (SHIBA) program. SHIBA's outstanding volunteers are an integral part of the consumer protection work we do at the Office of the Insurance Commissioner. In 2014, they helped nearly 65,000 Washington consumers understand Medicare in plain English, resolve Medicare disputes and choose a plan that best fits their needs in a timely manner.

Our volunteers donated nearly 90,000 hours in 2014 to helping their fellow citizens. We honor and celebrate our volunteers for their dedication and kindness. Thank you SHIBA volunteers for your time, dedication, commitment and service.

Read more about SHIBA services and where to find help in your area.