Best’s News & Research Service - September 21, 2021 02:42 PM (EDT)
California Assemblyman to Challenge Insurance Commissioner in Primary Race
SACRAMENTO, Calif. //BestWire// - California Assemblyman Marc Levine, a Bay-area Democrat, will run in the Democratic primary election next year against first-term incumbent Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara.
Marc LevineLevine has represented Marin and Sonoma counties in the state Assembly since 2012, according to his campaign website.
In a campaign statement via Twitter, Levine said Lara hasn’t done enough to hold insurance companies accountable.
“With new leadership at the California Department of Insurance, we will hold insurance companies accountable for a change, strengthening oversight of the industry and consumer protections,” he said.
Levine pledged to stand up for wildfire victims, survivors, and at-risk communities “so insurance companies can no longer deny coverage or raise rates to unaffordable levels.”
He also pointed to legislation to help wildfire victims that he supported, as well as A.B. 1439, a measure he wrote this year to give residential and commercial property owners a mandatory discount if the communities in which they are located enact fire mitigation measures. There have been no votes on the bill.
Additionally, Levine has pushed for legislation to assess a fee on managed care companies to raise more than $1 billion for the state’s Medicaid program, his campaign web site said. He also is a “strong supporter” of universal health care, it said.
Levine’s campaign also referred to a scandal early in Lara’s tenure when local media learned that his campaign solicited and received donations from individuals with ties to the insurance industry. Lara apologized, returned the funds to the donors, halted fund-raising operations and shook up his campaign staff (BestWire, Sept. 4, 2019).
Levine also took Lara to task for failing to order insurance companies to refund excess profits earned during the COVID-19 pandemic.
On his campaign website, Lara touts he has saved drivers more than $1.75 billion in automobile insurance premiums by ordering refunds for lower driving rates during the pandemic. (BestWire, May 3, 2021).
Earlier this year, he ordered more refunds, saying auto insurers did not give back enough, considering the reduced driving levels in 2020 during the height of the pandemic (BestWire, March 11, 2021).
An attempt to obtain comment from Lara’s campaign was not immediately returned.
Among other campaign promises, Levine said he would enshrine patients’ right to sue their insurance company by ending the practice of requiring pre-dispute binding arbitration requirements when people purchase health coverage. In addition, he said he would prohibit insurers from using education and occupation as factors in property/casualty underwriting; make it tougher for insurers to not renew policies for consumers whose circumstances have not changed; and require the commissioner’s approval before companies could reduce the number of policies in a given geographical area.
(By Timothy Darragh, associate editor, BestWeek: Timothy.Darragh@ambest.com)