OIC Answers on Insurance

The 2026 Legislative session wrapped up on March 12 after a historic, more than 24-hour House debate on the millionaire’s tax. The final episode of the OIC Answers podcast’s On Campus miniseries looks back at the session — the bills that passed, the bills that didn’t, and a few that could be heard from again next year. Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer welcomes on special guests Delika Steele and Richelle Geiger from the OIC’s Policy & Legislative Affairs staff to chat about what changes during session and which bills they worked on.

On this episode of the OIC Answers podcast’s On Campus miniseries, Washington state Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer welcomes on Senator Victoria Hunt to discuss Senate Bill 6178. The bill, requested Commissioner Kuderer and sponsored by Senator Hunt, increases protections for insurance consumers by banning post-loss assignment of benefits agreements (AOB). It passed the Senate unanimously but was not brought to the floor for a vote in the House.An AOB allows a third party, like a contractor, to receive insurance payments directly from the consumer’s insurance company but also assume the rights of the policyholder — like negotiating with the insurance company. These agreements are presented as a convenience for policyholders, but the practice has been abused in other states after natural disasters. When a consumer signs the agreement, their right to negotiate with the insurance company shifts to the repair professional and they lose control over their claim. This can lead to delays in the repair work as these disagreements are resolved, as well as inflated claim costs, unnecessary litigation, and higher premiums.

The OIC Answers podcast’s On Campus miniseries continues with guest Sen. Claire Wilson, who represents the 30th District.Sen. Wilson, a longtime educator, sits down with Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer to discuss a report the OIC sent to the Legislature in December on the availability of insurance coverage for child-placing agencies and family homes. The two cover why the issues exist, what happens if they’re not addressed, and what policy options exist to make coverage more available.

Home insurance nonrenewals due to wildfire risk has been a growing issue in certain pockets of Washington state. One potential solution, which came out of the Wildfire Mitigation and Resiliency Standards Work Group, was to create a voluntary grant program to help people retrofit their homes to better withstand wildfire. Senate Bill 6079, which has moved to the House of Representatives for consideration, puts that idea into motion with the Strengthen Washington Homes program. Based on standards from the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS), this pilot program would help the people who need it most make their homes more fire-resistant and maintain their insurance coverage. Sen. Marcus Riccelli (D – Spokane) is one of the bill’s sponsors. On this episode of the On Campus miniseries, he discusses what he’s heard from his constituents, how the bill garnered bipartisan support and the importance of protecting against wildfire.

Since 2010, people in Washington have enjoyed access to no-cost preventive health services. That’s no cost sharing, no copays and no deductibles on services like well-child visits, cancer screenings, maternal health care, and immunizations. However, recent actions at the federal level have put that cost-free status at risk. Immunizations qualify for that no-cost tag based on recommendations from the federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. And recently they’ve crossed a few vaccines off the recommendation list, which is troubling to some medical professionals.To keep those federal actions from impacting healthcare in Washington, Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer and Governor Bob Ferguson teamed up to sponsor House Bill 2242, which preserves access to preventive services. (The bill moved out of the House and to the Senate on Feb. 11 by a 57-39 vote.)On this episode of the OIC Answers podcast’s On Campus miniseries, Ferguson and Kuderer chat about the bill, the West Coast Health Alliance, and the importance of preventive healthcare.

The Nisqually earthquake Western Washington on Feb. 28, 2001. As we look back on the event 25 years later, the OIC Answers podcast welcomes on by Anne-marie Marshall-Dody, the Washington Emergency Management Division’s Assistant Director for Disaster Resilience, and Josh Martinsen, the Property & Casualty Unit Supervisor from our Consumer Protection division, to talk about what we’ve learned since then and how we can prepare our homes — from a construction standpoint and a physical standpoint — for the next significant earthquake.

On this episode of OIC Answers On Campus miniseries, Rep. Roger Goodman (D-45th District) joins Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer to discuss House Bill 2394, which was request legislation by the OIC. Insurance fraud has gotten a little more complex in the last two decades. House Bill 2394 gives the Office of the Insurance Commissioner’s Criminal Investigations Unit a few more tools to catch those fraudsters. The Protecting consumers by modernizing Washington’s insurance fraud laws bill expands the definition of insurance fraud and expands the definition of “victims of insurance fraud” to include insurance consumers and insurance beneficiaries and make them eligible for criminal restitution. It authorizes those criminal investigators to investigate other crimes that impact the insurance industry, or insurance consumers or beneficiaries.It also includes a rare instance of adding a felony to state law, with “insurance fraud” becoming a Class B felony rather than a misdemeanor or gross misdemeanor.

Wildfire, and the threats they pose to homes and their access to insurance, have been a significant topic in Washington over the past few years. Two pieces of legislation aim to address those threats: Senate Bill 6079 and SB 5928. Senator Shelly Short (R-Spokane) is a sponsor on both bills, and she joins Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer on this episode of the OIC Answers podcast’s On Campus miniseries to talk about why she sponsored the bills, how the grant program would work, what she learned from the Wildfire Resiliency and Mitigation Standards Work Group, and what wildfire risk scores mean for your home’s insurability.SB 6079 would create the Strengthen Washington Homes program, which is a voluntary grant program to help people retrofit their homes to better withstand wildfire. It’s based on standards from the Insurance Institute for Home and Business Safety and modelled partially on a similar program for wind damage in Alabama.SB 5928 concerns wildfire risk score models and score disclosure. Insurance companies use these risk scores, typically from third-party companies, to evaluate a property, decide if they’ll cover it, and help establish premiums.

If an insurance company takes your money, getting it back shouldn’t be a problem. That’s the basis behind Senate Bill 5331, which grants the Washington state Insurance Commissioner the authority to order companies that violate insurance laws to make the people they’ve harmed whole. It’s an authority held by insurance regulators in 38 states —including North Dakota, where Insurance Commissioner Jon Godfread worked to get a bill similar to SB 5331 passed last April. Godfread joins Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer to talk about why he supported the bill, the discussions around passing it, and how a family of farmers defrauded by an insurance company showed the North Dakota legislature the importance of granting restitution authority to regulators.

Denny Heck does not read his own Wikipedia page — at least not recently. The Lieutenant Governor, who founded TVW, served in Congress, occasionally sits in for the Governor and does not suffer foolish podcast hosts, kicks off OIC Answers’ 2026 Legislative Session mini-series by chatting about hisrole as President of the State Senate; the importance of civil disagreement, political compromise and the first amendment; why performing the one-man show Our Times meant so much to him; and the start to an interview that left a statelegislator legitimately slack-jawed. Washington state Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer will be hosting lawmakers and other guests from her office on the Capitol Campus during the 2026 session. Learn more about the OIC's legislative priorities.

The Legislature asked Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer and Public Lands Commissioner Dave Upthegrove to co-chair a work group to study and issue a report on wildfire mitigation and resiliency standards. The report, which includes recommendations about wildfire risk score transparency and a grant program to help residential properties resist wildfire loss, was delivered to the Legislature on December 1. In this episode of the OIC Answers podcast, two of the architects of the report — OIC policy analyst Lauren Burnes and DNR advisor to the state forester Robyn Whitney — discuss what went into the report, what the recommendations mean, and what happens next.

A bomb cyclone hit the Pacific Northwest in November 2024,knocking out power and blowing trees onto homes. The windstruck had questions about their coverage and our Consumer Advocacy Program provided help. Now, as we near the one-year anniversary of the event, the OIC Answers podcast revisits some of those questions: What you can expect when filing a claim after wind damage, how roof repairs are covered, the difference between asking a question and filing a claim, and, for some reason, how tumbleweed damage is covered.

Open enrollment for the individual health insurance marketstarts November 1, and the federal government shutdown is bringing a little uncertainty to the shopping experience. On this episode of the OIC Answers podcast, Washington Health Benefits Exchange CEO Ingrid Ulery joins Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer to talk about whether a podcast host really needs health insurance, what open enrollment is all about, and the benefits of shopping on healthplanfinder.org.Then, the discussion turns to the enhanced premium taxcredits, the debate on the national level around keeping them, what losing them means for the 300,000 Washingtonians who buy their plans on the Exchange, andwhat happens to rates and premiums if the tax credits are extended after the start of open enrollment.

Medicare Open Enrollment runs from October 15 to December 7 and people enrolled in Medicare can make changes to their coverage, like joining, switching or dropping Medicare Advantage or Part D plans, that’ll take effect on January 1.On this episode of OIC Answers, the hosts welcome on SHIBA manager Tim Smolen to ask “What’s the deal with Medicare open enrollment?”Get help with Medicare from the SHIBA Program.

The Office of the Insurance Commissioner is working with theDepartment of Ecology, the Department of Natural Resources and the state Military Department on Flood Awareness Fridays. On this episode of OIC Answers, the OIC’s David Forte and Aaron VanTuyl welcome on Amanda Richardson (Ecology) and Ann-Marie Marshall-Dody (Military) to talk about where to find and how to read flood maps and how to get flood insurance, which isn’t a peril covered under standard home insurance policies in Washington state.Note: The National Flood Insurance Program is notwriting or renewing policies while the federal government is shut down. Our Oct. 1 blog post has more information.

The insurance industry is regulated at the state level, which puts insurance regulators in a unique position to impact policies that can address climate change. In this episode of OIC Answers Jordan Haedtler, a climate financial policy consultant with Climate Cabinet, explores those options with Washington state Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer — including what some states are doing, what’s working, the conversation at the summer NAIC conference, and why being a voice for the consumers matters in these discussions.Check out Jordan’s work at climatecabineteducation.org.

Rep. David Hackney was elected in 2020 to represent Washington’s 11th legislative district. The former assistant U.S. attorney sits down with Washington state Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer on this episode of OIC Answers to talk about insurance, consumer protection, the restitution bill that didn’t make it out of the House Consumer Protection and Business committee (which Hackney co-chairs), and why you shouldn’t lie about what type of feathers are in your company’s pillows.

“It's an incredible resource, but what makes it unique from other reports? Why is it so important and so difficult to easily replace? Why is it so widely viewed as a legitimate, credible, and salient resource?”This episode of the OIC Answers podcast is a presentation from Dr. Meade Krosby, given as part of Commissioner Patty Kuderer’s Climate Education Series. Dr. Krosby — senior scientist with the University of Washington’s Climate Impacts Group, the director of the Northwest Climate Adaptation Science Center, and a former author of the Northwest chapter of the National Climate Assessment — discusses what the National Climate Assessment covers, how it was established, and how it’s used by all levels of government, the private sector, and the public. The Trump administration, however, dismissed all authors of the NCA in late April and the website hosting the report was removed in July, throwing the future of the report into limbo. Dr. Krosby’s presentation covers what could happen next, and why it’s important that the American public has the most up to date information on climate impact and responses.

The Trump administration has announced significant cuts to the Federal Emergency Management Agency are coming after the 2025 hurricane season. What’s that mean for Washington, and how does FEMA funding impactinsurance? And how does the National Flood Insurance Program factor into the availability of flood coverage? On this episode of OIC Answers, host Aaron VanTuyl welcomes on OIC Senior Policy Advisor David Forte and OIC Emergency Management Program Specialist Matt Stoutenburg to talk about what role FEMA plays in emergency management response situations, how grants from FEMA mitigate damage from extreme weather incidents, and what the loss of FEMA would mean for the National Flood Insurance Program and the availability of flood coverage in Washington state.

What rights to do you have when you’re in need of gender-affirming care? What’s covered, and where can you learn more and get help? On this Pride Month episode of OIC Answers, Commissioner Kuderer welcomes on Darlin Lozano and Sam Fennell from the Washington State LGBTQ Commission to discuss the LGBTQ Commission’s work, the hurdles involved in receiving care, and where to turn for help when seeking care. Learn more about the LGBTQ Commission’s work at lgbtq.wa.gov.