Issue: Who advocates for consumers in insurance matters?

The Insurance Commissioner should be your advocate in Sacramento, but history has proved otherwise: To his credit, the current insurance commissioner has a good track record on investigating and acting on insurance matters. However -- and you knew "however" was coming -- the consumer complaint division of the the Department of Insurance has suffered from a systematic reduction in funding. This division must be given additional support and greatly enhanced.

But, perhaps even more importantly, the industry needs to be regulated so consumers matter when products and rates across the board -- health insurance, auto insurance, homeowners and business insurance -- are approved. The reactive "We'll fix it if someone complains" attitude of the Democrats and Republicans is not acceptable.

Insurance companies have paid, full-time legal departments and full-time paid lobbyists. Consumers don't. It is the job of the Insurance Commissioner to be the advocate for the consumer and Larry Cafiero will be your advocate in Sacramento.

Got an issue?

The preceding item outlines one of the main issues: Led by the Green Party's 10 Key Values, the Greens and Larry Cafiero have a variety of other issues dealing with insurance matters. Do you have an issue you'd like addressed? E-mail the candidate here.

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