| Contradicting the trial-lawyer supporters of Referendum 67 and his own previous public comments, Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler has openly admitted that insurance rates for Washington families and businesses will likely increase if voters approve Referendum 67.
“They can certainly build it into their costs of doing business,” Kreidler said, according to a report in The Olympian newspaper. Asked if premiums would go up, Kreidler told the paper that insurance companies may pass the costs on to customers via higher premiums.
Independent analyses predict Referendum 67 will increase insurance rates by as much as $650 million annually statewide, or $205 more for an average family with a home and two cars insured.
Kreidler’s comments to The Olympian confirm an analysis from the State Office of Financial Management and a recent study by Milliman, Inc., both of which predict higher insurance rates will be the result of increased lawsuits created by Referendum 67.
In September, Milliman, Inc., released a study estimating Washington insurance consumers would pay up to $650 million more each year for home, auto, liability and business insurance if Referendum 67 is approved. Milliman predicts R-67’s triple damages and guaranteed attorney fees will cost an extra 7 percent, or as much as $205 more annually in higher premiums for a family with a home and two cars insured.
Milliman is the same firm used by the Office of the Insurance Commissioner last January for consulting work associated with the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Health Care Costs and Access.
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