Jane Kim

Candidate Response - 5 of 8

This article is part of a multi-part series introducing candidates who are running for the position of insurance commissioner in California. Eight candidates responded to three questions posed by Journalist Don Jergler.

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Democrat Jane Kim, an attorney and consumer advocate, served on San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors from 2011 and 2019. She has also run for state Senate and for San Francisco mayor.

Her plans include providing natural disaster insurance for everyone, ensuring that premiums pay for claims, increasing transparency from insurers and investing in safer homes and communities.

Q: How do you feel about the direction of the state’s insurance market?

Kim: California’s insurance market is in crisis. Premiums are skyrocketing, insurers are canceling policies, and when Californians actually need to use their coverage, insurers fight their claims every step of the way. Meanwhile, insurance companies posted record profits last year. That market does not work for all Californians.

I also believe the Commissioner’s office has failed to exercise the full extent of its regulatory power. We have the tools to hold insurers accountable by enforcing timely and fair claims handling and requiring transparency about underwriting decisions. These tools have gone largely unused.

The result is a market that works for shareholders, not consumers. I intend to change that.

California cannot afford a Commissioner who waits for the industry to come to the table voluntarily. We need a regulator who will proactively address the affordability and availability crisis we face today.

Q: What changes will you make if you are elected to the insurance commissioner post that our readers should know about?

Kim: I would turn this under-leveraged office into a watchdog for consumers. My priorities include aggressive enforcement of claims handling, greater transparency around rate justifications and accountability for insurers who deny or delay legitimate claims.

I would also make sure the office has the tools it needs to lead the industry toward a stable insurance market for all Californians. We face increasing risks from climate change and economic instability—risks that are beyond the insurance system’s control. Addressing this will require strong collaboration between regulators, legislators and companies.

I am proposing a Disaster Insurance for All Program. We must stabilize the market—in order to do this, risk must go down. Homes need to be hardened. Communities need defensible infrastructure. Building codes need to reflect reality, not history. Every dollar spent on federal mitigation grants saves $6 in disaster recovery costs. Updated building codes save $11 for every $1 invested.

A single payer system doesn’t just fix the pricing problem. It can actually make us safer. It turns the insurance system from something that passively reacts to risk into something that actively reduces it.

Q: What separates you from the other candidates in the race?

Kim: I’m the only candidate proposing transformative policy proposals, like Disaster Insurance for All, to actually tackle the scale of our insurance crisis. Disaster Insurance for All would move the state away from the current dynamic where private carriers cherry-pick low-risk customers, raise their rates, and push high-risk properties onto the FAIR Plan. That status quo isn’t sustainable, and no amount of rate approvals will fix it.

Not only am I refusing contributions from insurance companies and their executives—I will not accept contributions from corporate PACs or fossil fuel companies. My opponents are funding their campaigns with corporate PAC money, but I will govern independently from the industry I’m regulating.

Californians deserve an Insurance Commissioner dedicated to making insurance affordable and available for all Californians, not to increasing profits for this trillion-dollar industry. My opponents may have closer relationships with the industry, but I have a 12-year track record of taking on powerful institutions and winning.

I look forward to becoming the first woman elected to this office.

Compiled by Don Jergler, West Coast Editor of Insurance Journal