OLYMPIA, Wash. – Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler has extended two emergency orders. His order requiring health insurers to waive copays and deductibles for any consumer requiring testing for coronavirus (COVID-19) and his order protecting consumers from receiving surprise bills for lab fees related to medically-necessary diagnostic testing for COVID-19 are both extended until Dec. 24. 

Kreidler's order waiving cost sharing applies to all state-regulated health insurance plans and short-term limited duration medical plans. The order on surprise billing…

OLYMPIA/LOS ANGELES — Insurance Commissioners Mike Kreidler of Washington state and Ricardo Lara of California announced that eight insurance companies filed TCFD (Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures) reports in response to the Climate Risk Disclosure Survey in 2020. Washington and California, in partnership with the Departments of Insurance from Connecticut, Minnesota, New Mexico, and New York, conduct the annual survey and release the results on the California Department of Insurance website. The Climate Risk Disclosure Survey is sent to insurance companies that generate…

OLYMPIA, Wash. – Ivan Kriger, of Spokane, was charged in Spokane County Superior Court with four counts of attempted theft and four counts of filing a false insurance claim. This is the second set of insurance fraud-related charges against Kriger investigated by Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler’s Criminal Investigations Unit (CIU).

According to the investigation, Kriger filed two sets of fraudulent claims for commercial properties he owns in Spokane, a derelict building and an adjacent parking lot. Kriger is a developer in Spokane and owns a company called Crystal City LLC…

OLYMPIA, Wash. – Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler’s action against Aliera Healthcare, Inc. (Aliera) ordering the company to stop selling health insurance illegally was upheld on Nov. 13 after the company appealed.  Today, Aliera was ordered to pay a $1 million fine. It has 90 days to appeal. 

Kreidler took action against Aliera and its partner, Trinity Healthshare, Inc. (Trinity) in May 2019 after an investigation revealed that since August 2018, the companies sold 3,058 policies to Washington consumers and collected $3.8 million in premium. Trinity agreed to Kreidler…