OIC Answers on Insurance

Medicare is complicated, but we’re here to help. On this episode of the OIC Answers podcast, we welcome on Tim and Rosie from our SHIBA Program to explain what happens during open enrollment, what’s changed this year, which parts of Medicare you might need, what important dates to look out for, where to get an OIC Medicare Open Enrollment toolkit, and where to go if you’ve got questions about your...

Individual market health rates are up, on average, 22.2 percent among the 12 insurance companies selling plans on the state health benefit exchange. It’s the Insurance Commissioner’s responsibility to review these rates and, if they’re actuarially justified, approve them. But what does that mean? Why do the rates keep going up? And what happens if the Commissioner just says “no” to rate change req...

Health plans in Washington have to provide coverage for over-the-counter contraceptives with no co-pays or deductibles. On this episode of the OIC Answers podcast, our summer intern Betty sits down with one of our policy analysts to go over what’s covered and how you can make sure your health insurer pays for it.

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 sen...

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, or...

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 opti...

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 A...

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 Sta...

The Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety is now offering its Wildfire Prepared Home designation in Washington, which will help homeowners in areas with a high wildfire risk make their homes more insurable. On this episode of OIC Answers, recurring guest David Forte(OIC Senior Policy Analyst) and IBHS’ Senior Director for Wildfire Steve Hawks talk about IBHS’ research facility, how th...

Over the last year or so, the Office of the Insurance Commissioner has fined three large health insurance companies (Regence, Premera and Kaiser) a total of $1.4 million dollars for violations of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act. But what exactly are those violations? How does the MHPAEA work? What do health insurers have to do to stay within the law? On this episode of OIC Answer...

If you’ve bought a house (or a condo), you’ve probably bought title insurance to go with it. But what does it do? What does it protect you from? How do you file a claim and what type of trouble could really befall a title? OIC Answers, a podcast from the Washington state Office of the Insurance Commissioner, is back with regular hosts Aaron VanTuyl and Matt Baide to get to the bottom of it. Joined...

The 2026 Legislative session wrapped up on March 12 after a historic, more than 24-hour House debate on the millionaire’s tax. The final episode of the OIC Answers podcast’s On Campus miniseries looks back at the session — the bills that passed, the bills that didn’t, and a few that could be heard from again next year. Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer welcomes on special guests Delika Steele a...

On this episode of the OIC Answers podcast’s On Campus miniseries, Washington state Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer welcomes on Senator Victoria Hunt to discuss Senate Bill 6178 . The bill, requested Commissioner Kuderer and sponsored by Senator Hunt, increases protections for insurance consumers by banning post-loss assignment of benefits agreements (AOB). It passed the Senate unanimously bu...

The OIC Answers podcast’s On Campus miniseries continues with guest Sen. Claire Wilson , who represents the 30th District. Sen. Wilson, a longtime educator, sits down with Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer to discuss a report the OIC sent to the Legislature in December on the availability of insurance coverage for child-placing agencies and family homes . The two cover why the issues exist, wha...

Home insurance nonrenewals due to wildfire risk has been a growing issue in certain pockets of Washington state. One potential solution, which came out of the Wildfire Mitigation and Resiliency Standards Work Group, was to create a voluntary grant program to help people retrofit their homes to better withstand wildfire. Senate Bill 6079 , which has moved to the House of Representatives for conside...

Since 2010, people in Washington have enjoyed access to no-cost preventive health services. That’s no cost sharing, no copays and no deductibles on services like well-child visits, cancer screenings, maternal health care, and immunizations. However, recent actions at the federal level have put that cost-free status at risk. Immunizations qualify for that no-cost tag based on recommendations from t...

The Nisqually earthquake Western Washington on Feb. 28, 2001. As we look back on the event 25 years later, the OIC Answers podcast welcomes on by Anne-marie Marshall-Dody, the Washington Emergency Management Division’s Assistant Director for Disaster Resilience, and Josh Martinsen, the Property & Casualty Unit Supervisor from our Consumer Protection division, to talk about what we’ve learned s...

On this episode of OIC Answers On Campus miniseries, Rep. Roger Goodman (D-45th District) joins Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer to discuss House Bill 2394 , which was request legislation by the OIC. Insurance fraud has gotten a little more complex in the last two decades. House Bill 2394 gives the Office of the Insurance Commissioner’s Criminal Investigations Unit a few more tools to catch th...

Wildfire, and the threats they pose to homes and their access to insurance, have been a significant topic in Washington over the past few years. Two pieces of legislation aim to address those threats: Senate Bill 6079 and SB 5928. Senator Shelly Short (R-Spokane) is a sponsor on both bills, and she joins Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer on this episode of the OIC Answers podcast’s On Campus mi...

If an insurance company takes your money, getting it back shouldn’t be a problem. That’s the basis behind Senate Bill 5331 , which grants the Washington state Insurance Commissioner the authority to order companies that violate insurance laws to make the people they’ve harmed whole . It’s an authority held by insurance regulators in 38 states —including North Dakota, where Insurance Commissioner J...

Denny Heck does not read his own Wikipedia page — at least not recently. The Lieutenant Governor, who founded TVW, served in Congress, occasionally sits in for the Governor and does not suffer foolish podcast hosts, kicks off OIC Answers’ 2026 Legislative Session mini-series by chatting about his role as President of the State Senate; the importance of civil disagreement, political compromise and...

The Legislature asked Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer and Public Lands Commissioner Dave Upthegrove to co-chair a work group to study and issue a report on wildfire mitigation and resiliency standards. The report, which includes recommendations about wildfire risk score transparency and a grant program to help residential properties resist wildfire loss, was delivered to the Legislature on De...

A bomb cyclone hit the Pacific Northwest in November 2024,knocking out power and blowing trees onto homes. The windstruck had questions about their coverage and our Consumer Advocacy Program provided help. Now, as we near the one-year anniversary of the event, the OIC Answers podcast revisits some of those questions: What you can expect when filing a claim after wind damage, how roof repairs are c...

Open enrollment for the individual health insurance marketstarts November 1, and the federal government shutdown is bringing a little uncertainty to the shopping experience. On this episode of the OIC Answers podcast, Washington Health Benefits Exchange CEO Ingrid Ulery joins Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer to talk about whether a podcast host really needs health insurance, what open enrollme...

Medicare Open Enrollment runs from October 15 to December 7 and people enrolled in Medicare can make changes to their coverage, like joining, switching or dropping Medicare Advantage or Part D plans, that’ll take effect on January 1. On this episode of OIC Answers, the hosts welcome on SHIBA manager Tim Smolen to ask “What’s the deal with Medicare open enrollment?” Get help with Medicare from the...