What a curious title for a diary! Who is Senator Ed Hernandez? Why should we call him? What's his number?
His number is 916-651-4024. I want you to call it.
More importantly, California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones wants you to call it.
California State Senator Ed Hernandez is Chair of the Senate Health Committee, which is considering AB-52 on Wednesday. This bill would give the Insurance Commissioner the right to regulate increases in insurance premiums -- an authority that he currently enjoys, without the heavens crashing down onto the earth, for both automobile insurance and property & casualty insurance.
(As you may have heard, health insurance rates have been going vooooom through the roof recently. If the increases are reasonable, that's one thing; if not, that's something else. Someone should check! I think that that someone should be the Insurance Commissioner.)
AB-52 is worth passing. It's worth making noise about. Specifically, it worth making noise into a telephone, six times, to let Senators know that you're following the progress of the bill and want it to pass.
Six calls -- that's all. Most of them will be easy. Make the calls, come back here, and report on what you've learned about their intentions.
Senator Ed Hernandez (Chair) -- 916-651-4024
Senator Elaine Alquist --- 916-651-4013
Senator Kevin de Leon -- 916-651-4022
Senator Mark DeSaulnier (AB 52 co-author) -- 916-651-4007
Senator Michael Rubio -- 916-651-4016
Senator Lois Wolk (AB 52 co-author) -- 916-651-4005
This is activism made easy -- but you still have to do it, because it's still important.
Check in below. I'd like to know in advance of Wednesday's vote that it's going to pass -- wouldn't you?
10:35 AM PT: What should you say when you call, LNK wisely asks? Take your cues from Commissioner Jones. This is from his e-mail blast:
As Insurance Commissioner, my office gets calls every day from Californians who cannot afford health insurance premium increases. In order to rein in skyrocketing health insurance rate increases I am sponsoring Assembly Bill 52 (Feuer and Huffman). AB 52 would give me the authority to reject excessive health insurance rate increases before they go into effect.
Many insurance companies are raising rates multiple times in the same year, creating a hardship for more and more Californians. The U.S. Department of Labor reports that medical inflation has been between 3.5% - 4% per year each of the last few years. That makes it difficult to understand why the cumulative rate increases for many policyholders have been 50, 60, 80% or even higher since 2008. The five largest health insurers in this country made a combined profit of $11.7 billion last year. That was a 17% increase over the 2009 profit of $9.9 billion and a 51% increase over the $7.8 billion made in 2008.
Insurance Commissioners in many other states have the authority to reject excessive health insurance rate hikes. But I have this authority only when it comes to auto and homeowners' insurance. It's only right that the Insurance Commissioner have that same authority for something as important to each and every Californian as health insurance.