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Effectively manage the Department of Insurance

As insurance commissioner, I will manage the Department from day one with the knowledge and understanding of this business by bringing my years of experience for the benefit of our citizens -

I know how these products and companies operate, I know where the tricks are and how to close loopholes. I have worked for over fifteen years in insurance - in public and private settings. My initial work in state government was to help create affordable options for small businesses so that we could reduce the number of working uninsured in the state. I helped draft the laws that made it easier for small businesses to buy health insurance. We reduced the number of employees of small businesses without insurance but without a political advocate, the issue lost its glamour.

I have remained diligent on these health care issues. As a leader of the state's association of health insurance agents, I advocated for the creation of a high risk pool that will help individuals who cannot find affordable health insurance. The pool will provide a subsidized premium to those who are unable to find coverage due to their medical condition. In 2005, I opposed efforts initiated by the Department and the industry which permitted higher rates for small businesses, which resulted in a reduction in level of rate increases being proposed. When I worked in the industry, I fought to have mental health parity protections included for businesses of all sizes, not just those with 50 or more employees, and made sure the laws providing for health insurance portability were not cumbersome so that they protected the people for which they were designed.

For the last seven years, I have worked extensively with small business owners throughout the state, helping them understand and comply fully with state insurance and federal benefit laws. I have helped ordinary people who were denied their rights to continue health care coverage after their jobs ended. I helped secure coverage for those who had been deprived of insurance for a discriminatory reason. I represented people who had a claim denied (recently for someone with breast cancer who wanted nontraditional treatment) to get their claims paid when no one else, including the Department of Insurance, would help.

Plus I have a unique perspective. As someone who ran his own law firm, I faced a situation many small business owners have had to confront about the cost of health insurance for themselves and their employees. I chose to provide coverage for my employees and my children but not myself for a period of about eighteen months. It was a difficult and scary time (and one of the motivations for me to join another firm), but I knew that I did the right thing for my family and my employees and have no regrets in my decision to look after the needs of others before taking care of myself.

I have the ideas and the ability to help find solutions to the quagmire of insurance problems we face in North Carolina. I listen and bring people together to solve problems for the benefit of others. I will fight when I have to in order to protect working families and small businesses in our state.

I am not running for Insurance Commissioner as a stepping stone to run for some higher office. I am running for Insurance Commissioner because I am the most prepared for the job and the most committed to the purpose of the office, that is to benefit the people who buy and use insurance in North Carolina.

In addition, it is important to recognize that the Insurance Commissioner is also the state fire marshal. It is my belief that we need to reevaluate the mission and responsibility the office of state fire marshal so that we can focus on making our citizens safer with stronger building codes designed to protect our most vulnerable during times of crisis.