Vincent M. White, a New Castle County realtor who owns a Newark real estate agency, Provest Realty Associates, and who serves on the Delaware Real Estate Commission, has announced that he will join Mitch Crane and challenge Insurance Commissioner Karen Weldin Stewart for reelection.
In the News Journal article about his announcment, White appropriately criticizes Stewart’s cozy relationship with insurers in the state, and he questioned Stewart’s decision to seek a waiver from a federal health reform rule requiring health insurers to spend at least 80 cents of every premium dollar on health care.
But in an article for Delaware Black, White makes some troubling statements taht I think need clarification. For example, White stated that the next few years are critical as President Obama’s Affordable Care and Patient Protection Act is implemented. White said he “intends to be certain that the reforms do not interfere with the patient-physician relationship and these reforms do not interfere with the Insurance Commissioners ability to oversee the insurance marketplace.”
Right away I don’t like the sound of that. I want the law to interfere with the business as usual in the insurance market. I want the Insurance Commissioner to implement and execute the law, not interfere with it to make sure it doesn’t upset the insurance marketplace. Further, Mr. White states that “while it is imperative that the Insurance Commissioner have a good, solid working relationship with the [insurance] industry, it is more important that everyday families and individuals know that they are going to get a fair deal when buying a policy, and will get timely and equitable benefits from premiums already paid when disaster strikes.”
Yes, it is more important that the people be protected than the insurance industry be coddled. In fact, it should be the IC’s only concern. The IC is a regulator, regulating a business and a market place. Yeah, it is nice if everyone is friendly and gets along, but it is not a concern, and it is definitely not imperative, especially when the business actively seeks to harm the consumer at every opportunity.
I hope Mr. White clarifies his vision on what the IC office is, and his quotes here, because we already have Karen Weldin Stewart shilling for the insurance industry. We don’t need to elect another lackey.
Otherwise, I welcome him to the race.