Karen Weldin Stewart Is Open For Business
What follows is some text from a summary from the Property & Casualty Insurance Association of America meeting with Karen Weldin Stewart. The PCIAA is a membership/lobbying organization that looks out for the interests of insurance companies. Read along with me and see if you think that the relationship that Weldin-Stweart is trying to build with the industry is appropriate.
PCI Meets with Commissioner-elect Stewart
On December 10, 2008, PCI members had an opportunity to meet Commissioner-elect Karen Weldin Stewart. Stewart provided an update about her transition and expected issues when she takes office. Her swearing in is January 6, 2009, starting at 5:30 p.m. at the Hotel DuPont in Wilmington. Most members appreciated the openness and interest she has for developing ties and relationships with the property casualty insurance industry.
Ignore for a second the fact that KWS is even meeting with this group that represents tha companies that she is supposed to be regulating (remind me again, didn’t people get all fired up because Gene Reed hung out with these folks?) but look at that paragraph again. Her swearing in is January 6th at the Hotel Dupont? And who is paying for that grand swearing in? My guess is the insurance companies because KWS does not have any money left over from the campaign and the state does not pay for that sort of thing.
We opened the meeting with a general comment that Delaware is a small state with high costs and we believe it is important to recognize that changes, however, small they may be, have an added cost to the system. Stewart stated that she wants to have an open administration and use the insurance industry as an additional information source. She stated that she has her transition team looking at issue and would appreciate comments and views about how the department is operating. She stated further that she plans to have advisory committees to help her on key issues and would welcome companies’ participation in these groups.
Again, it is totally inappropriate for this meeting to even be taking place, but Weldin Stewart finds it necessary to throw open the doors of the Insurance Commissioner’s office to the companies that make money by not paying claims.
One member pointed out that in our industry, Delaware has high PIP limits and that this may one of the reasons for high costs in Delaware. We stated that a reduction in these types of high mandatory limits in PIP may help reduce costs. Another point was that there is a need to speed up approvals in rate filings. It was commented that she may also want to seek information from the department about how many filings there are outstanding.
This is some insider insurance company talk that I take to mean “Your office needs to help us make money.”
We discussed workers compensation issues. Stewart stated that she has met with the Rating Bureau and has an informal agreement that the Rating Bureau will provide the department with filings 2 months ahead of any approval timeframe to help better coordinate any possible implementation of a filing. We mentioned the recent Order by the department mandating a rate reduction for a period of 4-5 years (for Filing No. 0806). She stated that she will look at this issue.
Okay. This is huge. I checked around and any insurance person reading this just had a profit-gasm because this seemingly innocuous statement that “We mentioned the recent Order by the department mandating a rate reduction for a period of 4-5 years (for Filing No. 0806). She stated that she will look at this issue…” refers to an order that instructed the insurance carriers to return to policyholders the windfall profits they had made from the imposition of the medical fee schedule for workers compensation insurance. So KWS is basically saying she can fix that for them.
As to her staffing, she commented that Elliott Jacobson will be her chief of staff. He is 65 years old and comes from Washington, D.C. He has government affairs experience in New York, Illinois, and Washington, D.C. She is also considering candidates for deputy insurance commissioner. She pointed out that she is not trying to have a political office, but a professional one. She pointed out several of her transition team members and the qualities they bring to her review.
Read “professional” there to mean “industry friendly” and I think you have it. Although the Insurance industry paying for KWS’s grand swearing in cerimony will probably make the headlines, the real story for me here is that Weldin Stewart she thinks the Department has been too hard on the insurance industry and she is going to fix that.
It is her theme, and if she was more forthright in her campaign material as she was in these meetings and in her press release annoucing her transition team when she wrote, “The insurance industry is not, as some would have it, the adversary of the consumer. On the contrary, with diligent regulation and enforcement, the industry can and will be an important safety net for our citizens.” – I seriously doubt she would have won.
Hey, I didn’t vote for her. I know Republicans can’t possibly care for consumers and all, (here’s lookin’ at you, DelDem!) but I kind sorta thought Brady would have been a better choice.
STFU
Ugh!
How long till KWS is on a nice trip to the islands on the insurance companies nickel?
I wonder if she has paid her credit card bills? The question then is, how could she pay them with no money?
Elected offices that directly control other peoples’ money is the next best thing to a free Amex Gold Card.
Aren’t you just precious, nemski?
The thing that burns me up the most about all of this is that KWS has clearly never been on the consumer side trying to get an insurance comapny to do the right thing.
Now she is on the company side assuming that they will be good. It does not work that way. Insurance companies need to be forced into being good.
The whole insurance business model is adversarial in nature. The insurance industry is, as everyone in the industry knows, the adversary of the consumer.
Jason, when has she been on anyones side besides her own?
This reminds me of when Cheney took office and had that meeting with all the oil company execs, and then there was the big outcry from Republicans about how inappropriate – Oh wait, that didn’t happen.
Nice blogging.
Oh Jason-I think you may be the one insurance she won’t have to meet. Because, you will have her covered, fully, and at premium.
Our very own piece of the Rock.
And from here on out you will now receive a pet name from me…Rock…you like? Yeh, Pet Rock..no just Rock. OK Alec?
I think I am going to need some rocks when KWS and Tom Gordon come after me with brickbats and insurance riders.
Don’t worry Jason, I’ll keep you covered w/ WMD.
See that’s what reaching across the aisle is all about.
Hey Mike Matthews,
I guarantee you that his Holiness, John Brady The Great, would have attended that meeting and said exactly the same thing.
Jason,
Could you please provide for me the link to this news article? You seem to have ommitted it by accident.
Because it seems to me you quoted an Industry Newsletter, and it seems to me that you do not allow for the possibility of KWS telling them exactly what they want to hear.
It is like reading Pravda to find out the truth about Ronald Reagan.
I will wait to see how she performs in office. If she betrays her role as a regulator or as an advocate, then I will join you in your attack.
delawaredem, i throw a shoe at you for being level-headed.
I will wait to see how she performs in office. If she betrays her role as a regulator or as an advocate, then I will join you in your attack.
That is good to know. I think the evidence is mounting that you will soon be joining me.
The difference between you and me is that I will wait until I see actual evidence.
Between Obama and KWS, we now have two failed administrations and they haven’t even started yet.
“The difference between you and me is that I will wait until I see actual evidence.”
Yeah, that’s how I felt about Bush after Florida 2000. We know how that worked out.
Oh is that a New Year’s resolution DelDem?
Nemski,
The Hotel DuPont? C’mon man.
Meeting with representatives of an industry that you will be regulating is not a bad idea, really. You still need some relationships with these folks, but there was little about what I read here that sounds like a meeting between a regulator and the regulated.
She stated further that she plans to have advisory committees to help her on key issues and would welcome companies’ participation in these groups.
I want to know if she will name these advisory committees; publish the names of the folks on these committees; publish online when these advisory committees meet; and publish minutes from these meetings.
As I just posted on another thread – the PCI has a history of being antagonistic to the best interests of Delaware insurance consumers.
This meeting makes no sense.
PCI thinks that insurance companies should be able to drop your coverage if you dare file a claim.
http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/east/2005/11/01/61452.htm
Just sayin’
I hear you, but I’m a member of a very highly regulated community and meetings with regulators do happen pretty frequently. They aren’t always (perhaps mostly are not) productive, but do provide a forum for figuring out ways to work with one another.
The meeting is less of a problem than what may have been promised or signaled at that meeting.
OUT: Dave Burris
IN: KWS
Where’s Nancy today? Hiding?
A few questions to those who are attacking KWS.
How many people in the state of Delaware have an insurance policy with an insurance company?
Do you really believe an insurance regulator can be a successful Insurance Commissioner by not talking to the industry that does the insuring?
Do you think every insurance company or insurance provider is the adversary of every consumer?
Can anybody here come up with evidence from the public records posted on the Election Commissioner’s web site, that KWS took money from insurance company executives, insurance company PACS and firms that do business with the insurance department? Note: It is illegal for an IC candidate to take donations from insurance companies?
Do you seriously believe that KWS would be have personal debts and our campaign so dollar challenged if she took money from the insurance industry?
Is anyone, besides Rep. John Kowalko (and to a lesser extent myself), familiar with the unpublicized but successful help KWS has given over the years to so many of the most indigent and impoverished people as well as the working poor and people at the higher end of the economic spectrum in this state over the years?
Some have asked why doesn’t KWS respond herself. Karen is a professional insurance regulator with an encyclopedic knowledge of the insurance world. There is just no way to have a productive dialogue or find the time to do so with those who are uninformed, or ignorant of a very complex industry or with those who are purposefully malicious.
In closing allow me to relate to you this story.
In 1988 I was the Michigan State Director for the late Senator Paul Simon (a newspaperman early on and then the author of several books who never graduated college). We were in the process of giving the Dukakis juggernaut a scare in Michigan when a friend told me to call John Swainson. Who was John Swainson? John Swainson was a war hero in WWII who lost both his legs and was several times decorated for bravery and valor. He came home, became Governor and then a state Supreme Court Justice. While a justice he was accused of bribery which was ultimately dropped but he was convicted of perjury. He went to jail, served his time, came out and sank into obscurity. I called him, met him at a Holiday Inn and asked for his endorsement. An instantly likable and admirable gentleman, he was, many people had told me, railroaded. He declined saying his endorsement would wreck the Senator’s campaign. I told him we would take our chances and wanted him at a podium in front of the media when the Senator cme to town. He reluctantly agreed, we had our press conference, held our breath and enjoyed thoroughly positive press coverage from the left, right and the non-ideological. Senator Simon was viewed as a stand up guy, John Swainson was rehabilitated in the eyes of the public and veterans everywhere applauded both men.
Elliott Jacobson
I just celebrated the 2nd anniversary of my 32 and 1/2 birthday.
How many people in the state of Delaware have an insurance policy with an insurance company?
All of them except for people who have insurance policies from cat food companies.
Do you really believe an insurance regulator can be a successful Insurance Commissioner by not talking to the industry that does the insuring?
Yes. Talk to them in court if they want to talk.
Do you think every insurance company or insurance provider is the adversary of every consumer?
This question proves that you have never tried to get your insurance company to pay a claim.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Now some questions for you Elliot.
Who is paying for the swearing in?
Who?
Speak up?
Am I invited to the swearing in? (Note: I am not an insurance company executive.)
In closing allow me to relate to you this story.
Back when Paul Simon was the President of the United States, I was working for… Hold it. Paul Simon was never President.
Never mind.
Here is the real story: The PCI notes reveal that Karen Weldin Stewart’s is out to give the store for insurance companies for some reason. Why? I guess we’ll know in time.
I have an email in to Elliott from about 12 hours ago, but haven’t yet heard back. Elliott’s a great guy, spoken to him on many occasions. Karen’s a nice woman, too. Personally, she’s sweet as can be, but I’ve still got lots of questions.
I want an insurance commissioner that works for the consumers, not the insurance companies.
Is that so wrong?
KWS reception on January 6th is being financed by our campaign committee with the restrictions we have placed on the donations since the beginning. To repeat, contributions do not come from insurance companies, insurance company employees, insurance company PACS and firms that do business with the department.
KWS has an ambitious consumer driven agenda which we will soon be unveiling that rarely if ever will involve the use of taxpayer money. On the contrary, we will be working to bring in revenue to the department and the state. In fact, the Insurance Department is a revenue producer for the state, is funded entirely by the industry. A key part of the KWS agenda is to bring in more insurance entities into Delaware for both revenue and jobs.
Stay tuned…
Elliott Jacobson
I expect that this will be like catnip to the companies you intend to lure here:
“We mentioned the recent Order by the department mandating a rate reduction for a period of 4-5 years (for Filing No. 0806). She stated that she will look at this issue…”
Elliott Jacobson
I just celebrated the 2nd anniversary of my 32 and 1/2 birthday.
*
hey Elliot, I celebrated the second anniversary of my 25 and 1/2 birthday yesterday. Contrary to X Stryker’s paranaoid imagination, I’ve been in a Birthday party getaway mode.
It looks like the majority of Dellies say Jason is teh stupidly trapped into another non-story by his slick anonymous tipster. What is sure is that the examples from the [yet unlinked] ‘industry newsletter’ have been cherrypicked to shed aspersions.
O.M.G!!! Not that again!! Is this going to be a weekly Dellie feature, anony? Duping the Jase.
I am electronically beaming with pride to say I skipped over this race on the ballot. A first in my 34-year history of voting. But I guess that means I can’t complain, either.
Nancy – Jason is not alone on this. I am thoroughly convinced that we have a cardboard cutout as insurance-commissioner-elect.
KWS isn’t just a cardboard cutout. It’s much worse than that. That she’ll sell out DE consumers for her own gain is pretty clear already. She never got work in the insurance industry because she’s too stupid, actually nearly illiterate, and flunked background checks. Then that same industry got her into office because she’s for sale. You do the math. It’s not like you all had no warning.
Hey Elliott – did you forget campaign contributions are public record? Just about every out-of-state contributor to your bogus candidate is connected to insurance. Give us some credit ok?
BTDT,
Also, Jacobson did not answer the most pressing question:
Am I invited to the swearing in? (Note: I am not an insurance company executive.)
Where there is smoke…?
Jason, looks like we’re already past the smoke and into the fire. Here’s the lowdown on former Insurance Commissioner Levinson (1984-92). Remember KWS briefly worked under him in 1988. What little she’s learned in life apparently came from his example. Deja vu?
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE3DA153DF932A15754C0A964958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all
How does KWS respond to this?
“.. I am thoroughly convinced that we have a cardboard cutout as insurance-commissioner-elect.”
It’s more like a puppet…empty on the inside except for someone elses thoughts and it cant make any moves on its own…
KWS won’t mind being a puppet because she’ll be a rich puppet unless somebody stops her. How about it, folks?
Lets see if she squares up her campaign outstanding bills before her big swearing in shin dig.
I have to say that it gives me a warm feeling to know that I am not the only one worried about that.
What a pretentious phony. No other elected official to be sworn in has the grandiose airs of KWS, whose office is much less important than theirs. First the unheard-of “transition team,” and now the Hotel Dupont swearing-in. I can just see her making her grand entrance, dressed in one of her flamboyant hats and a haute couture outfit she didn’t pay for, at this unnecessary to-do for which neither she nor her campaign has the money. We’re not impressed, only more convinced of her shallowness and incompetence. The bigger (they think) they are, the harder they fall.
To Delawaredem:
You wrote “If she betrays her role as a regulator or as an advocate, then I will join you in your attack.” I say get ready because she didn’t chase the office for 8 years because she wants to regulate or advocate.
So help me, if she trips on the staircase, after that swearin-in, collects wokman’s comp, and sues Hotel D, I am so joining in with DelDem.
Seems like there are a lot of assumptions in this article. Also, if she is going to regulate companies, does it make sense that she gets to know the companies very closely so she can regulate them? If she doesn’t, I don’t think she can go after them if they do something bad. I agree with the comments about giving her time to regulate.
If she does allow her swearing in ceremony to be paid by the insurance groups, then she will be criticized, but I highly doubt that is the case. Let’s see what she can do.
Greg, your premise is that you have to know someone in order to exercise authority. So if someone robs a bank, do they try and find a past associate who is currently a cop? You are an idiot.