Mike Kreidler

Mike Kreidler
Insurance Commissioner of Washington
Incumbent
Assumed office January 10, 2001
Governor	Gary Locke Christine Gregoire Jay Inslee
Preceded by	Deborah Senn
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Washington's 9th district
In office January 3, 1993 – January 3, 1995
Preceded by	Constituency established
Succeeded by	Randy Tate
Personal details
Born	Tacoma, Washington, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Lela Kreidler
Children	3
Education	Pacific University (BS) University of California, Los Angeles (OD, MPH)

Myron Bradford "Mike" Kreidler is an American Democratic politician serving his fifth term as the Washington Insurance Commissioner. Previously, he served one term in the United States House of Representatives, representing Washington's 9th congressional district.

Education and early career

Kreidler holds a bachelor's degree from Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon, and a doctor of optometry from the same institution's College of Optometry. After his US Army service as an optometry officer, he earned a master of public health degree in health administration from the UCLA School of Public Health.

He was employed as an optometrist by Group Health Cooperative of the Puget Sound in the Olympia clinic for twenty years, with sixteen of them shared with the Washington State Legislature. Before being elected to the legislature, he was elected to the North Thurston School Board in Lacey, Washington, serving from 1973 to 1977.

State politics and Congress

Kreidler was a long-time legislator, serving 16 years in the Washington Legislature (Washington House of Representatives 1976–1984, then Washington State Senate 1984–1992) before being elected to the United States Congress as a Representative from the newly formed 9th congressional district of Washington in 1992. He was defeated by Republican Randy Tate in 1994.

Following his re-election defeat to Congress in 1994, he was appointed to the Northwest Power Planning Council in 1995 by Washington Governor Mike Lowry and subsequently re-appointed by Governor Gary Locke. He served on the NWPPC until 1998 when he was appointed Regional Director for the United States Department of Health and Human Services's Region 10 office in Seattle, Washington, serving in that post until 2000, when he resigned in order to seek election to the office of Washington State Insurance Commissioner.

Kreidler is Washington’s eighth insurance commissioner. A former member of Congress, he was first elected as insurance commissioner in 2000. He was re-elected to a fifth term in 2016.

A doctor of optometry with a master's degree in public health, Kreidler practiced at Group Health Cooperative in Olympia for 20 years, with 16 of them shared with the Washington State Legislature. He served as a member of the Northwest Power Planning Council and as regional director for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

He retired as a lieutenant colonel from the Army Reserves with 20 years of service.

Climate change

Since 2007, Kreidler has chaired the National Association of Insurance Commissioners' Climate Change and Global Warming Work Group. He led a successful push for insurers to disclose if and how they are preparing for the potential risks associated with climate change.^[1]

Controversies

• The Seattle Times editorialized that Kreidler was "[s]low to stand up for the tens of thousands of families struggling to get necessary care for loved ones with mental illness. Astoundingly, his office has not taken a single enforcement action on the law, and a proposed rule to strengthen enforcement has languished in his office for two years."^[2] It took class-action attorneys to win a judgment at the Washington Supreme Court for those with autism being denied care by insurers, with no help from Kreidler.
• Taxpayers paid a $450,000 settlement to whistleblower after State Auditor Troy Kelley refused to investigate her complaint against a Kreidler chief deputy—there was no discipline for the chief deputy.^[3]
• Taxpayers paid $50,000 settlement, following a $20,000 investigation, after a Kreidler chief deputy allegedly harassed a worker who was forced to borrow sick leave from co-workers while the chief deputy enjoyed two months of paid leave before finally being dismissed.^[4]
• Kreidler had a chief deputy quit following a 2013 hallway argument over a plant Kreidler wanted to accept as a gift from a special interest. Most executive staff followed.^[5]
• In June 2017 the 73-year-old regulator was rocked by news that Washington's health insurers were increasing rates for 2018 by an average of over 22 percent.^[6] A long-time apologist for insurance companies, Kreidler had, just days before his 2016 re-election, dismissed 2017 increases averaging 13.6% as "a one-time adjustment."^[7] A July 2017 Seattle Times article described Kreidler as "sympathetic to insurers" despite their huge surpluses.^[8]

Personal

Kreidler resides in Lacey, Washington with his wife, Lela. They have three grown children and three grandchildren. He is a member of several professional and fraternal organizations. He retired from the United States Army Reserve as a Lieutenant Colonel, after serving on active duty as an optometrist during the Vietnam and first Persian Gulf wars.

References

External links

• United States Congress. "Mike Kreidler (id: K000328)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner
• Appearances on C-SPAN