State insurance commissioner visits Lewis County, discusses changes to disaster response and local resources

By Jacob Moore / jacob@chronline.com

New Washington state Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer paid a visit to the Twin Cities Senior Center Tuesday, June 17, for the first time since being elected to the job last year.

After visiting the Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation earlier in the day, Kuderer's team dropped by the center around lunchtime to speak with community members. The commissioner’s team also set up a table with information for locals about resources offered through the Office of the Insurance Commissioner, such as the Statewide Health Insurance Benefits Advisors (SHIBA) program, which helps consumers navigate Medicare and other insurance plans.

The Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner is the state agency responsible for regulating the state's insurance industry through rulemaking, consumer protection and consumer advocacy.

After making some brief remarks to the seniors, the commissioner and her team stayed to answer questions.

Kuderer, a Democrat, is new to her position as the state’s insurance commissioner. She took office at the beginning of the year after defeating Republican opponent state Sen. Phil Fortunato, R-Auburn.

She became the state's first new insurance commissioner in 24 years after long-term incumbent Mike Kreidler decided not to run for reelection.

Kuderer brings with her years of experience in state government after being appointed to the state House of Representatives in 2015 and then being elected as the state senator for the 48th Legislative District in 2017.

During the short visit Tuesday, Chehalis Mayor Tony Ketchum made an appearance to speak with the commissioner. During their conversation, he said they spoke mainly about the local impacts of potential changes to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and how the Office of the Insurance Commissioner can help.

“One of the concerns was, being on the Chehalis Basin Flood Authority for years, we put together this flood warning system,” Ketchum said. “If NOAA goes away, all that information goes away, and we lose our pre-storm warnings (that) save peoples lives if a flood is coming.”

FEMA’s main job is to respond to natural disasters and help communities recover from the impacts. One of the main ways they do that is by providing financial assistance to states and local governments.

Kuderer addressed the uncertainty. She said if FEMA and other programs cannot be relied upon, the state will be on its own to fund disaster response. She hopes that her work with the insurance industry in the state will create more options for local governments in those situations.

“What it means, practically speaking, is that the cost of disaster recovery will now be borne solely by the states, because we won't be able to rely on the federal government to be a partner like they had in the past,” Kuderer said. “So that means local governments and the state government will be even more strapped for funds in order to respond to a disaster. So, from my perspective, what it means is I need to find different kinds of insurance products that can help reduce that financial risk right.”

One option Kuderer mentioned was working with the insurance industry to put out a special insurance policy called parametric insurance. According to Kuderer, the policies could be taken out by local governments and, once certain criteria were met, those governments would receive insurance money within seven days.

During the event, Kuderer's team also spoke briefly about a new partnership between the Office of the Insurance Commissioner’s SHIBA program and Timber River Connections, which operates five senior centers and one older adult nutrition site in Lewis County. The Timber River nonprofit was formerly known as Lewis County Seniors.

Starting later this year, Timber River Connections locations across the county will host events with a local volunteer to help people with their insurance needs. According to Timber River Connections Executive Director Nicole Barr, locations will start holding events by the end of the summer focused on education and accessing resources so that locals, and especially seniors, can learn what they need to know about Medicare, Social Security and a other insurance options ahead of the open enrolment period in October, when people can make changes to their insurance plans.

During the event, SHIBA Program Manager Tim Smolen spoke about the challenges of getting people, especially older individuals who may not have access to or experience with technology, informed about medicare and medicaid.

“So, for me, senior centers and libraries are significant community anchor institutions, and so we really need seniors to sort of re-engage after the pandemic,” Smolen said. “Right now, what I say is, ‘not having technology is like not having English in terms of navigating the insurance system,’ so we’re gonna really work together to promote people having basic digital literacy and, you know, a lot about Medicare and Social Security.”

According to Barr, details on the events are not yet available, but more updates will become available soon.