Dave Jones for Moron Commissioner

Okay, some background for those of you who do not know. Dave Jones is a former Sacramento City Councilmember and is being termed out of the State Assembly. Days after winning re-election in 2008, Jones announced he was running for Insurance Commissioner in 2010.

As his first attempt to start getting votes, Jones introduced AB 119. This bill would force health insurers to charge the same premium for men and women EVEN WHEN THE ACTUARIAL DATA SHOWS THAT WOMEN COST MORE. Okay, slow down. Insurance companies make money by charging premium, investing the premium, and then paying claims. Part of the profit is investments. Part of the profit is based on the premium covering the cost of a claim.

Actuarial data is the data insurance companies have on certain groups of people. For example, men under 25 have more auto accidents than women under 25. So, if you are a man, your auto insurance rates are higher. In health insurance, costs for women for treatment are higher than the costs for men. So, the premium should be higher according to the actual facts.

Jones, who either thinks he knows something about insurance or is afraid he will be out of job and unemployable if he does not have an elected position since he is part of the failure of California's government, thinks this bill is good. What happens? Either insurance companies start charging everyone the women's rate, which costs everyone more money, or he forces insurance companies to charge everyone the men's rate, and the insurance companies stop offering insurance.

Think this is far fetched? Most homeowners insurance companies threatened to do this after the Northridge earthquake. Allstate threatened it after the Dept. of Insurance told them to lower their rates.

Insurance companies are in the business of making money. They make money by providing insurance. If they cannot make money, they go out of business.

I am not sure if Dave Jones understands how insurance companies work. I am not sure if he has any clue as to how any business works. But, this is the dumbest thing I have ever heard from a politician. Okay, not the dumbest - Darrell Steinberg still takes that award. Hell, Karen Bass is second. The Governator is third. So, this is the fourth dumbest thing I have heard this year from a politician.

Dave Jones may be completely incompetent to run for insurance commissioner. Heck, that is not a surprised. Steve Poizner was not very qualified. Crookenbush, er, Quackenbush, was the least qualified. It seems to be a trend. But, Jones may be even more unqualified. He seems to want to pass a bill to put insurance companies out of business. That does not make him a good person for insurance commissioner. It makes him a moron.

There is a second option. He knows this is a bad idea. He is just putting it out there because he wants to get votes when he runs. He wants to look "consumer oriented." Now, as someone who is a consumer law attorney, and who likes consumers, I get that it helps to be consumer oriented. But, this is just pandering for votes. Why not walk down Stockton Blvd, a popular hangout for women of the night in Sacramento, and ask for votes? It is about the same thing.

Dave Jones - you should be ashamed of yourself. Drop out of the 2010 race now. You are an embarrassment to Democrats. No, to politicians. No, to people who think. Absolutely ridiculous.