consumer protection

I'm very pleased to report that my team and I announced yesterday that in 2011 we were able to recover $42 million for individuals, families and businesses of North Carolina! This is just part of the more than $1 BILLION my service as NC Insurance Commissioner has saved consumers since 2008.

I remember when so-called "conservatives" constantly complained that courts were letting people off because of "legal technicalities" - you know, little things like the fact that a person wasn't read their rights, or the police broke into a house without a warrant or the police falsified evidence - you know, little, teeny technicalities that just don't really matter, right?

As a consequence, company also issues refunds and credits of $638,000 to overcharged policyholders. Total impact: $1.3 MILLION.

Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin today announced a settlement with CIGNA Healthcare of North Carolina, Inc. over violations discovered during a routine market conduct examination. The settlement resulted in a fine of $600,000 on top of the refund of $638,000 to policyholders (individuals and businesses). As required by state law, the monetary penalty component collected will be distributed to the state public school system.

Now that 2011 began mere minutes ago, please visit my brand new campaign Facebook page (I hope you'll "Like It" and recommend it to your Facebook friends!) and also take a short stroll through my completely revised, new campaign website which is linked on the site and in this very sentence.

Both the website homepage (www.WayneGoodwin.org) and the Facebook wall have a short intro video from me on them.

Happy New Year, friends and visitors ... Onward to 2012!

North Carolina's Insurance Commissioner, Wayne Goodwin, and the Department of Insurance are going after yet another person charged with illegally dropping health insurance for employees of a small business.

Several months ago I penned - typed? - an entry entitled "Good News When It's Rare". In the news these days, particularly with election season bringing out some of the worst in various folks, good news is often overshadowed or crowded out.

Well, in case you missed it somehow, some of the best news in a long time happened last week and it involved historic insurance refunds I announced totalling $155.8 million for 215,000+ policyholders, savings of an additional $14 million on premiums, cutting of filed rates for certain health insurance policies, and a special visit I made to the White House.

And kudos as well to BCBSNC CEO Brad Wilson for his leadership and partnership, as well as to my agency technical experts, in making this success come about.

North Carolina's state Commissioner of Insurance, Wayne Goodwin, today held a major press conference at his Raleigh office.

Joining him at the surprise press conference was Brad Wilson, CEO of Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina.

Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin and the Department of Insurance assist almost one hundred thousand North Carolinians every year with insurance complaints and concerns. However, occasionally consumers fight the fight themselves. Most often they don't win on their own.

But one inspiring example of a consumer who fought an insurance giant and won is at this link to WRAL-TV's special coverage that aired on August 30th. Or, you can watch the embedded news link below.