OIC Answers on Insurance

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...

The Office of the Insurance Commissioner is working with theDepartment of Ecology, the Department of Natural Resources and the state Military Department on Flood Awareness Fridays. On this episode of OIC Answers, the OIC’s David Forte and Aaron VanTuyl welcome on Amanda Richardson (Ecology) and Ann-Marie Marshall-Dody (Military) to talk about where to find and how to read flood maps and how to get...

The insurance industry is regulated at the state level, which puts insurance regulators in a unique position to impact policies that can address climate change. In this episode of OIC Answers Jordan Haedtler, a climate financial policy consultant with Climate Cabinet, explores those options with Washington state Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer — including what some states are doing, what’s wo...

Rep. David Hackney was elected in 2020 to represent Washington’s 11th legislative district. The former assistant U.S. attorney sits down with Washington state Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer on this episode of OIC Answers to talk about insurance, consumer protection, the restitution bill that didn’t make it out of the House Consumer Protection and Business committee (which Hackney co-chairs),...

“It's an incredible resource, but what makes it unique from other reports? Why is it so important and so difficult to easily replace? Why is it so widely viewed as a legitimate, credible, and salient resource?” This episode of the OIC Answers podcast is a presentation from Dr. Meade Krosby, given as part of Commissioner Patty Kuderer’s Climate Education Series. Dr. Krosby — senior scientist wi...

The Trump administration has announced significant cuts to the Federal Emergency Management Agency are coming after the 2025 hurricane season. What’s that mean for Washington, and how does FEMA funding impactinsurance? And how does the National Flood Insurance Program factor into the availability of flood coverage? On this episode of OIC Answers, host Aaron VanTuyl welcomes on OIC Senior Policy Ad...

What rights to do you have when you’re in need of gender-affirming care? What’s covered, and where can you learn more and get help? On this Pride Month episode of OIC Answers, Commissioner Kuderer welcomes on Darlin Lozano and Sam Fennell from the Washington State LGBTQ Commission to discuss the LGBTQ Commission’s work, the hurdles involved in receiving care, and where to turn for help when seekin...

May is National Wildfire Awareness Month. What do wildfires mean for your insurance? Recurring guest David Forte, Senior Property and Casualty Policy Advisor, is on hand to talk about how fire threats impact insurance costs and what we’ve learned from the claims data after the Gray and Oregon Road fires. Guy Gifford, with the Department of Natural Resources’Community Wildfire Resistance Program, a...