Washington and Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioners Receive Bonnie Burns Excellence in Consumer Advocacy Award

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) Consumer Representatives recognized Washington State Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler and Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner Michael Humphreys, respectively, with the Bonnie Burns Excellence in Consumer Advocacy award Tuesday, Nov. 19, during the NAIC Committee Liaison session at the Fall National Meeting.

The Bonnie Burns Excellence in Consumer Advocacy award honors Bonnie Burns for her effectiveness and service to insurance consumers and the NAIC Consumer Participation Program. The award recognizes a state regulator who NAIC Consumer Representatives believe has most effectively represented and advanced the interests of consumers in NAIC proceedings.

Commissioner Mike Kreidler, the longest serving elected insurance commissioner in the United States, was previously recognized with the award in 2009 and is the only individual to have received the award twice.

Commissioner Kreidler has been a strong advocate for consumers at the NAIC and in his home state throughout his tenure as an insurance regulator. He has been an unwavering supporter of the NAIC Consumer Participation Program, serving on the board for many years. During his time as Washington State Insurance Commissioner, Kreidler has advocated for consumers and affordable insurance rates. He has opposed the use of socioeconomic factors in auto insurance pricing; opposed reducing claim payments by unfairly depreciating the cost of labor; worked for premium transparency; and pushed for the collection of data on climate change, climate risk, and rising insurance costs.  

Commissioner Michael Humphreys received the Bonnie Burns Excellence in Consumer Advocacy award for advancing the interests of consumers in connection with a range of insurance issues involving the availability, affordability, and quality of health, property, life, and auto products. 

Commissioner Humphreys’ work on the Special (EX) Committee on Race and Insurance’s Life Insurance Workstream has included a resolution endorsing financial education that incorporated Consumer Representatives’ input. Humphreys’ supported the gathering of data to better understand how life insurers and their third-party vendors utilize criminal history records in underwriting. He has consistently been responsive to the Consumer Representatives’ concerns about prior authorization and the work of the Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (H) working groups, and he is a leader among states in finding thoughtful ways to work with health insurance carriers to collect race and gender data to improve health care. In addition, Commissioner Humphreys has been a strong advocate for the autism community in Pennsylvania. All state-regulated commercial insurers in Pennsylvania are now required to treat autism spectrum disorder as a mental health condition and to cover autism treatment and services in compliance with federal and state mental health parity law.

Commissioner Humphreys also is advancing disaster preparedness in his state and working to increase the number of households protected against the peril of flood through consumer education and outreach and making it easier for communities to participate in the Community Rating System.

The NAIC Consumer Representatives select the recipients of the Bonnie Burns Excellence in Consumer Advocacy award. Many of the Consumer Representatives represent consumer organizations, and all seek to promote consumer interests in insurance regulation through advocacy at the NAIC.

Previous recipients of the Excellence in Consumer Advocacy award include  Andrew Stolfi (Commissioner, Oregon), Jessica Altman (former Commissioner, Pennsylvania), Mike Conway (Commissioner, Colorado), Maria Vullo (former Superintendent, New York), Ted Nickel (former Commissioner, Wisconsin Department of Insurance), Dave Jones (former Commissioner, California Department of Insurance), Bruce Ramge (former Director, Nebraska Department of Insurance), Monica Lindeen (former chief insurance regulator in Montana), Sandy Praeger (former chief insurance regulator in Kansas), Teresa Miller (former chief insurance regulator in Oregon), Marcy Morrison (former chief insurance regulator in Colorado), Joel Ario (former chief insurance regulator in Pennsylvania and Oregon), Mike Kreidler (Washington Commissioner of Insurance), John Morrison (former chief insurance regulator in Montana), and Sean Dilweg (former chief insurance regulator in Wisconsin).

(Photo L-R: Washington State Insurance Commissioner Kreidler [Center] and Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner Humphreys [Center])

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