OIC has saved auto insurance consumers $32 million since 2010

The Office of the Insurance Commissioner's rate decisions have saved auto insurance consumers more than $32 million in premiums since 2010.

Personal auto insurers are required to file their proposed rates and rating plans with our office whenever there's a rate change. Our actuaries review the proposed rates, rating plans, and supporting documentation to be sure that the rates are not excessive, inadequate or unfair. 

From 2010 through 2015, the rates we approved for the top 20 personal auto insurers in Washington saved consumers more than $32 million in premiums. 

• 2015: $6.2 million
• 2014: $6.2 million 
• 2013: $8.9 million 
• 2012: $5.6 million 
• 2011: $2.7 million 
• 2010: $2.7 million 

Read more about auto insurance in Washington state.

Before you wax your skis, brush up on winter activities and your insurance

Snow is starting to fall in Washington state's mountains and in some lower elevations. Before you hit the slopes or backcountry, take a moment to consider insurance implications for winter recreation. 

Snoeshowing at Lake Wenatchee Sno-Park,
courtesy Washington State Parks

Ski and snowboard equipment

Winter sports gear is not cheap, and replacing it in the event of damage or theft can put a crimp in your winter fun. 

Generally, equipment you own will be covered up to a specific amount by your homeowner or renter policy. Check the limit in your policy and decide if that will be enough to replace damaged or stolen equipment. Remember to factor in your deductible. 

If you think you need more coverage, ask your insurance agent about a rider that might allow you to increase coverage (and your premium) for specified personal property.

Snowmobiles

Snowmobiles may be covered under homeowner policies when they are used for maintenance of your insured property. They likely aren’t covered by a renter or auto insurance policy. If you want to be covered, talk to your insurance agent about a snowmobile policy. If you take your snowmobile off your property, carry proof of insurance.

If you are traveling and plan to rent a snowmobile, you may consider rental insurance to cover damage to the snowmobile. Your home or renter insurance might provide coverage for your personal liability while operating a rental snowmobile. Read the contract carefully before signing and ask questions of the agent selling you the coverage if you don’t understand the limits or conditions of coverage.

Travel insurance

Traveling in the winter can be full of surprises. Even if you’re traveling somewhere warm, bad weather en route to your destination can cause delays or cancellations. Travel sites and airlines offer travel insurance when you book your trip. Travel insurance can cover everything from lost luggage to delays and cancellations, but make sure you closely read any policy you consider. Learn more about travel insurance.

Health insurance

If you are out of town without access to your physician or local health care center, review your emergency medical treatment requirements:

• Are you required to seek medical treatment at a certain hospital or urgent care center that is in your insurer’s network?
• Will you have a copay?
• If you need to fill a prescription, do you have to go to a certain pharmacy?
• If you are traveling in an area that is out of your network, what is the insurer’s requirements for reimbursing your expenses? 

Make a list of these details and carry your insurance card with you when you travel.

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

What's an umbrella policy?

Commissioner Kreidler recently participated in a Facebook live Q&A with KIRO TV reporter Jesse Jones, where viewers submitted their insurance questions. Jesse and Commissioner Kreidler got lots of great questions, including a couple about umbrella policies.

Umbrella policy is one of those insurance terms that a lot of people have heard but many aren’t quite sure what it means. Simply put, an umbrella policy extends your liability coverage beyond what is covered by your homeowner and auto policies. Umbrella policies pay only after you exhaust the liability limit of your homeowner or auto policies, which are referred to as underlying policies.

Here’s an example: Your dog bites a visitor in your home. The visitor sues you for damages and wins a $1 million award against you. Your homeowner’s insurance policy will only pay up to the $300,000 liability coverage limit listed in your home policy. If you have a $1 million umbrella policy, it will pay the remaining $700,000, minus any deductible. According to the Insurance Information Institute, a $1 million umbrella policy costs $150-$300 per year – that’s about $13 to $25 per month in premiums.

If you are interested in buying an umbrella policy, you should contact your insurance agent or company.

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

Fight health care fraud: guard your Medicare number!

Medicare open enrollment is here (October 15 to December 7), which means fraudsters and identity thieves will increase their efforts to get and abuse Medicare numbers from people.

Fortunately, there are many measures you can take to fight health care fraud:

• Guard your Medicare number. Protect it the same way you do for your credit card numbers. Medicare will never contact you for your Medicare number or other personal information. Don’t share your Medicare number or other personal information with anyone who contacts you by phone, email, or by approaching you in person, unless you’ve given them permission in advance. 
• Don’t ever let anyone borrow or pay to use your Medicare number.
• If you’re looking to enroll in a Medicare plan, be suspicious of anyone who pressures you to act now for the best deal. There are no “early bird discounts” or “limited time offers.” Any offer that sounds too good to be true probably is.
• Be skeptical of offers for free gifts and free medical services. A common ploy of identity thieves is to say they can send you your free gift right away—they just need your Medicare number to confirm. Decline politely but firmly. 
• Do your part to protect your friends and neighbors: remind them to guard their Medicare numbers, too.
• Check your Medicare Summary Notice (MSN)–which gives you information on services submitted under your Medicare number–to make sure you and Medicare are only being charged for services you actually received. While the MSN is only mailed to you every 3 months, you can access your Original Medicare claims at any time on MyMedicare.gov. You’ll usually be able to see a claim within 24 hours after Medicare processes it.

You can report suspected fraud by calling 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227).

TTY users should call 1-877-486-2048. 

To learn more about how to protect yourself from health care fraud, visit Medicare.gov/fraud, or contact our state’s local Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP), which is the OIC's Statewide Health Insurance Benefits Advisors (SHIBA) program.

Outdoor, indoor features that you think are covered may surprise you

Many consumers think their homeowner policy covers everything they own, both inside and on their premises outside of their home. However, you should be aware that most homeowner policies do not cover everything you own. 

Creative Commons Backyard Pool by
Alvin Smith is licensed under CC BY 2.0 

Here are some common features that people may think is covered by a standard homeowner policy. 

Outside your home:

• Retaining walls
• Pools that sit above and below ground
• Gazebos
• Spas/hot tubs 
• Rockeries and other landscaped areas
• Driveways
• Sidewalks
• Foundations
• Fences
• Pump houses
• Garden sheds
• Greenhouses 
• Playground equipment

Inside your home:

• Collectibles
• Money
• Jewelry
• Artwork 
• Musical instruments

Talk to your agent or broker to find out if items like these are covered.  If coverage isn’t available, you’ll want to maintain and safeguard the property at your own cost, and do the best you can to keep it from damage. It’s a good idea to have a discussion about these types of property before you buy a policy.

Read more about homeowner's insurance on our website. Questions? You can contact our consumer advocates online or at 1-800-562-6900.

Areas hit by wildfire are at risk for flood damage – are you covered?

We are reaching the end of a “normal” fire season, thanks to this year’s snowpack and spring rain. While that is good news, the more than 15,000 acres that have burned are at higher risk for flash flooding and mudflows. Vegetation absorbs water and reduces runoff that causes mudflows. Even areas that are not historically prone to flood are at risk due to the landscape changes caused by fire. Flood risk remains high until vegetation grows back, up to five years after the fire. That means that the million-plus acres that burned the last two summers are still at higher risk for flooding and mudflows. 

Photo courtesy Washington state Department of Natural Resources

Homeowner’s and commercial insurance policies do not cover flood or mudflow damage. Consumers who want to protect their property must purchase a flood policy, available only through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Most properties qualify for flood insurance, as long as it is located in a community that participates in the program.

Typically, there is a 30-day waiting period before your flood insurance policy takes effect. This time of year is a good time to do some research into flood insurance, before the fall and winter weather that can bring floods start in earnest.

More information:

• Find an agent near you who sells flood insurance policies through NFIP.
• NFIP’s Flood After Fire fact sheet
• FEMA’s Flood after Fire Risks fact sheet

Questions? Get more information about flood insurance or contact our consumer advocates.

Consumers should be wary of short-term health plans

Consumers looking for health insurance outside of the annual open enrollment period should be wary of short term health plans. These plans may be marketed as alternatives to Affordable Care Act (ACA) health insurance, but they could leave you without adequate coverage and facing financial penalties at tax time. 

Originally, short-term health plans were sold as a stop-gap measure until you could get real major medical coverage. After the ACA kicked in, people had many other options for coverage, but these limited plans were still being marketed to consumers as a viable alternative. However, short-term  plans do not count as 'minimum essential coverage' under the ACA - meaning you'll have to pay a tax penalty. They also do not cover the 10 essential health benefits, can limit your annual benefits to $100,000 or less, and deny you coverage for any pre-existing conditions. 

These policies are sold year-round, unlike ACA-plans that must be purchased during the annual open enrollment period, unless you qualify for a special enrollment. Some states allow for coverage to last up to a year and policies can be renewed. This effectively takes people out of the insurance pool that the ACA was designed to expand, leading to increased costs for everyone. 

In an effort to bring the limited short-term health plans back to their original purpose and to protect consumers, the federal government is proposing a regulation to limit the duration of these policies to three months and increase consumer awareness of their limitations.

Insurance Commissioner Kreidler agrees with this effort and sent a letter yesterday in support of the new regulation.

Learn more about Medicare at free event Aug. 6 in Kent

Are you new to Medicare? The Office of the Insurance Commissioner’s Statewide Health Insurance Benefits Advisors (SHIBA) will be at the Kent Senior Activity Center from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 6

You will learn about:

• Medicare parts A, B, C and D
• Your Medicare benefits and options
• How to get help paying for Medicare if you qualify

Find registration and parking information for this event.

Other resources:

• Find out more events on the SHIBA calendar. 

• Read more about SHIBA and how it can help you. 

Do you have Medicare questions? Call 1-800-562-6900.

Breastfeeding and insurance: learn your rights

This week is World Breastfeeding Week, when people from all over the world celebrate breastfeeding. It may surprise you to hear that there’s a connection between breastfeeding and insurance.

The Affordable Care Act requires most health insurance plans to provide breastfeeding and lactation support, equipment and counseling to women during and after pregnancy as long as they are breastfeeding.

• While insurers must cover breast pumps, plan vary by what type of pump they cover, if they help pay for a rental or purchased pump, and if the pump needs to be pre-authorized. Contact your insurance company to find out what your plan covers. 
• Insurance plans must also cover lactation support for mothers and babies who are having trouble with breastfeeding or pumping. 

According to womenshealth.gov, babies who are breastfed have lower risks of many health conditions including asthma, ear infections, SIDS, type 2 diabetes and respiratory infections. Breastfeeding also benefits mothers’ health, promotes infant-mother bonding and is more economical than buying formula.

Find more information:

• Breastfeeding benefits: – Healthcare.gov 
• Breast Pumps and Insurance Coverage: what you need to know – U.S. Department of Health & Human Services 
• Breastfeeding a sustainable solution – The Olympian 

Read more about women’s health insurance rights on our website. Questions? You can contact our consumer advocates online or at 1-800-562-6900.

Consider your options when you lose your employer-sponsored insurance

Finding out you are being laid off is stressful, and in addition to that, you have to make important decisions about health insurance that can save you—or cost you—thousands of dollars at a critical time. It’s important to consider all your options when deciding between COBRA or buying your own plan.

What is COBRA? COBRA stands for the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, which is a federal law that allows you and any of your immediate family members to stay on your employer’s health plan under certain circumstances :

• You lose or quit your job 
• You get a divorce 
• The employee dies 
• You are no longer covered as a dependent due to your age

Only employers with 20 or more workers in the previous year are required to offer COBRA coverage. State and local governments fall under COBRA, but the federal government and certain religious organizations do not.

COBRA can be expensive. People who choose COBRA coverage must pay the entire premium, including the portion previously paid by the employer, plus a 2 percent administrative fee. Be warned, if you enroll in COBRA and later on want to switch to a health plan directly to an insurance company or through the Washington Healthplanfinder, you will have to wait until the next open enrollment period if you don’t qualify for a special enrollment.

Options other than COBRA
Before you decide to go with COBRA, find out if you can buy a health plan through the Washington Healthplanfinder and receive a subsidy to help pay your insurance premiums. You can also purchase coverage directly from an insurance company, broker or agent if you don’t qualify for any subsidies.

If you choose a health insurance plan, you likely will be responsible for a full yearly deductible. Generally, health insurance deductibles are not prorated for partial-year enrollees, no matter how few months are left in the plan year. Individual or family qualified health plans operate on a calendar year, from January through December. There is no way to transfer the money you spent toward another plan’s deductible when you switch plans mid-year.

Read more about losing your health insurance on our website. Questions? Contact our consumer advocates online or at 1-800-562-6900.

For COBRA- specific laws and questions, contact:

U.S. Dept. of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration

Seattle District Office

300 Fifth Ave., Ste. 1110

Seattle, WA 98104

206-757-6781