October 31, 2008-Fargo Forum Endorsement
Forum editorial: Insurance campaign a close call
None - 10/31/2008
Today’s issue: Schneider vs. Hamm for N.D. insurance job.
Our position: A tilt toward Hamm because of his fight with the Blues.
North Dakota Insurance Commissioner Adam Hamm certainly was playing a little politics with his feud with Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota. But his determination to call the insurer to account regarding its rate increase filings indicates he’s a tough regulator who won’t be appropriated by the insurance industry. That would seem to be enough for voters to tilt toward Hamm. They are, after all, consumers of increasingly expensive health insurance.It’s not enough. Hamm is in a tight race with state Rep. Jasper Schneider, D-Fargo, because the challenger is highly qualified for the job and is running a very good campaign. Schneider’s record as an attorney and lawmaker confirms he is a genuine champion for consumers. His private work and public service have put him on the front lines of helping North Dakotans negotiate the minefield that insurance companies often lay out.
Hamm, also an attorney, was a successful Cass County prosecutor, and that aspect of the practice of law seems to fuel his confrontational approach to the Blues. Schneider, who reminds that the Blues have some 90 percent of the state’s health insurance market, would not coddle the company, but rather would strive for a better working relationship between the company and the Insurance Department.
Both candidates favor Measure 4 on the ballot, which would return accountability of the state’s workers’ compensation agency to the governor’s office. Both see a larger role for the Insurance Department in regulating the insurance aspects of the agency’s mandate.
Schneider contends Hamm was slow to respond to the insurance needs of Northwood following the 2007 tornado. Hamm says he’s proud of his department’s work after the storm.
Hamm was appointed to the job a few months ago, in part because he’d paid his political party dues. Schneider is making his first run for statewide office, the scion of a Fargo family steeped in public service. Both are newcomers to the statewide ballot. They’ve put the insurance commissioner race in a brighter spotlight than in the past. That’s a good thing, given the focus on health insurance and medical costs, the uninsured and the escalating costs for disaster insurance.
It’s a close call. Schneider certainly is qualified by life/work experience and temperament to do the job well. But Hamm has the edge because he’s demonstrated his mettle by confronting the state’s largest and most powerful health insurer.
Forum editorials represent the opinion of Forum management and the newspaper’s Editorial Board.