Help the OIC improve health insurance webpages

We need your help refining the information we provide on the individuals and families section of our health insurance webpages. 

You can help by taking a short survey by May 28. It takes less than 15 minutes to complete and your responses are anonymous.

We will use your feedback to improve the way the information on the pages is organized, so it is more user-friendly and easy to navigate.

Thanks for your participation!

OIC hiring two entry-level insurance positions in Tumwater

The Office of the Insurance Commissioner is hiring two entry-level positions atour Tumwater headquarters to help consumers with insurance.

• Insurance Technician 1: This is in our Consumer Protection Division and answers calls on our consumer hotline. This position triages calls to consumer advocacy, producer licensing and Statewide Health Insurance Benefits Advisors (SHIBA), explains basic insurance rules and helps consumers and industry users troubleshoot problems with our online applications. 
• Health Insurance Advisor 1: This is in our Statewide Health Insurance Benefits Advisors (SHIBA) program and is a temporary job through December 2015. This position counsels consumers in person and on the phone about health insurance, Medicare and Medicaid, including screening them for eligibility and enrolling them in subsidized programs. The person in this position delivers presentations to community groups, trains volunteers and attends monthly meetings around the state. 

Find more information about these jobs and other openings at http://bit.ly/OICjobs

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.