Kim pledges to take on corporate greed and bring down costs

SAN FRANCISCO – Today, civil rights attorney, consumer advocate, and former San Francisco Supervisor Jane Kim announced she is running for California Insurance Commissioner, launching a campaign to take on the insurance corporations driving California’s affordability crisis and to finally put the office to work for all Californians. If elected, she would be the first woman to serve as Insurance Commissioner.

“Californians are being crushed by rising costs while insurance companies make record profits raising premiums, canceling coverage, and denying claims,” said Jane Kim. “Our Insurance Commissioner should protect working people, not enrich CEOs only to leave families stranded when disaster strikes. For too long, insurance companies have put profits over people. It’s time to hold the insurance industry accountable and put it to work for Californians.”

Kim’s campaign has three central policy plans:

1. Natural Disaster Insurance for All. Guarantees universal, affordable coverage for climate-related disasters. No more insurance industry excuses.

2. Cap CEO pay and excessive insurance profits. Big insurers make billions off our premiums yet often deny coverage or claims. We need to refocus what insurance is supposed to be: protection for residents, not an investment fund for insurers.

3. Guarantee health care for kids. Every child in California should have guaranteed health care. Period.

“At a time when insurance companies are raking in record profits while working families struggle to afford coverage, Californians need an Insurance Commissioner who will stand up to powerful corporate interests. Jane Kim has spent her career fighting for working people, and she is the bold and thoughtful leader California needs right now,” said Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT). “While on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, Jane helped San Francisco become one of the first cities to make community college tuition free, negotiated record levels of affordable housing from major developers, and won California’s first $15 minimum wage ordinance. Government should work for the many, not the few. Jane Kim is the clear choice for Insurance Commissioner.”

Kim is the only candidate in the race to pledge not to take a single dollar from insurance companies, executives, or PACs. Californians deserve an Insurance Commissioner independent from industry influence, who refuses insurer money and stands up to corporate abuse. That’s why Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), the National Union of Healthcare Workers and Working Families Party are endorsing her campaign.

Insurance costs now rank among Californians’ top cost-of-living concerns. Rather than address these concerns and expand coverage for those who need it, the insurance industry is exploiting the climate crisis to evade accountability, while elected officials fail to use the full power of the office to protect the public.

Kim brings a track record of standing up to corporate power and delivering results for working people. As a former San Francisco Supervisor, she helped make community college tuition-free, won record investments in affordable housing, passed the first $15 minimum wage in California, and enacted some of the strongest tenant protections in the country.

She previously served as California Political Director for Bernie Sanders and is currently the California Director of the Working Families Party, organizing working people to challenge entrenched corporate interests.

Kim’s campaign launches with a clear message: Californians don’t have to accept a system rigged against them. “They’ll tell us these ideas aren’t possible, and that we have to accept less,” she said. “But in the richest state in the richest country on earth, we can take on corporate greed, and we can win.”elease text here.