October 19, 2005: Headlines: Figures: COS - Ethiopia: Insurance: State Politics: Times-Standard: Garamendi calls for national disaster insurance fund

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Ethiopia: Special Report: California State Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi: April 4, 2005: Index: PCOL Exclusive: RPCV John Garamendi (Ethiopia) : October 19, 2005: Headlines: Figures: COS - Ethiopia: Insurance: State Politics: Times-Standard: Garamendi calls for national disaster insurance fund

By Admin1 (admin) (pool-141-157-6-135.balt.east.verizon.net - 141.157.6.135) on Thursday, October 20, 2005 - 10:19 am: Edit Post

Garamendi calls for national disaster insurance fund

Garamendi calls for national disaster insurance fund

Garamendi touted his efforts at tackling disaster preparedness through a summit of state insurance commissioners that will seek to develop a National Catastrophe Insurance Program. The program would more effectively spread insurance risk and help survivors cope with the financial implications of natural disasters and acts of terrorism. John Garamendi is the State Insurance Commissioner for California. He served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ethiopia in the 1960's.

Garamendi calls for national disaster insurance fund

Garamendi calls for national disaster insurance fund

James Faulk

ARCATA -- State Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi is speaking out against what he calls an ill-advised bevy of initiatives in November and a state and federal health care system in serious crisis.

Garamendi is seeking to become the state’s next lieutenant governor. He’s served in both the state and federal governments -- he was deputy secretary of the interior under President Bill Clinton -- and now he’s looking to translate that experience into the second most powerful elected position in the state.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Garamendi said, has wasted the most political capital of any governor in recent memory. He came in with a unique opportunity to build a coalition for reform but squandered that chance, Garamendi said in an interview before speaking at a Democratic meeting.

Schwarzenegger’s initiatives are wrong-headed and barely scratch the surface of the vast problems that face the state, Garamendi said, and they show a distinct lack of leadership.

Garamendi touted his efforts at tackling disaster preparedness through a summit of state insurance commissioners that will seek to develop a National Catastrophe Insurance Program. The program would more effectively spread insurance risk and help survivors cope with the financial implications of natural disasters and acts of terrorism.

With hurricanes Katrina and Rita still looming large in the nation’s rear-view mirror, the timing is right, he said.

”The ultimate toll of these hurricanes will be unimaginable in both loss of human life and financial ruin,” said Garamendi. “These tragedies make our work at the summit even more urgent. As insurers begin to sort through a deluge of claims, and as survivors confront the fact that some losses won’t be covered, it will become painfully clear that a single, national policy is the only answer.”

Garamendi said the “Air Force One insurance plan” -- where in times of disaster money falls from the sky, seemingly out of the back of the president’s jet -- is not adequate.

”We can do better,” he said.

In California, where perhaps the biggest risk is from earthquakes, Garamendi pointed out that more than 13 percent of homes are covered with earthquake insurance -- a figure that could be dangerously low with the advent of another temblor.

The national insurance pool -- which he said would effectively spread the risk and cost among a large, national number of clients -- would better serve the country in times of crisis.

Garamendi also spoke on the burgeoning crisis of the state and federal health care systems.

The current system is in a “death spiral,” he said, as the number of uninsured continues to climb and the nation continues to pour enormous sums of money into the system.

He advocated for a national health care system that is “effective and efficient,” protects the quality of care and allows for patient choice.

He said he believes a universal health care system with a single collector of the money, multiple private and public providers, a basic and uniform benefit package and sufficient information on medical provider quality is the only way to cure the ailing system.

His remarks preceded a dinner put on by the Humboldt Democratic Central Committee to honor 2005 Democrat of the Year Mel Kreb.





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Story Source: Times-Standard

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Figures; COS - Ethiopia; Insurance; State Politics

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