Candidate for
Insurance Commissioner; Democratic Party

Hector De La Torre is running for California Insurance Commissioner to make sure Californians get the insurance coverage they pay for. He will protect doctor patient relationships and make sure doctors and not insurance bureaucrats make medical decisions. De La Torre is committed to protect senior citizens from rip-offs by life insurance and annuity companies.

De La Torre's top three priorities when elected Insurance Commissioner will be:

• Expand access to healthcare for all Californians, and take on special interests to ensure that patients get the best care and services from insurance companies and healthcare providers. De La Torre will also prevent health insurance companies from denying coverage because of pre-existing conditions.

• Review and enforce Prop 103, which voters approved to strengthen consumer protections. Our current Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner has failed to protect consumers due to his weak enforcement of Prop 103 provisions, and has let insurance companies place profits before people. De La Torre will implement tougher regulations to stop abuse and lower insurance premiums.

• Earthquake Insurance Reform. We cannot depend on the federal government in case of disaster, as we've seen in the Katrina catastrophe. Earthquake insurance needs to be more affordable and cover more consumers.

De La Torre is a candidate with executive management experience, which is vital to oversee the Department of Insurance and thousands of employees. He served in the Labor Department in the Clinton Administration, where he focused on minimum wage, OSHA enforcement and pension protection, and assisted the Deputy Secretary in managing over 6,000 employees nationwide. De La Torre was also an executive manager at Southern California Edison and the Los Angeles Superior Court, where he was responsible for overseeing a multi-million dollar budget and staff.

EXPANDING HEALTH CARE TO CALIFORNIANS

In the Assembly, De La Torre worked to expand healthcare coverage to more Californians and worked to implement reforms to limit the abuse of insurance companies. De La Torre's record of accomplishments includes:

• Stood up to lobbyists and wrote a bill to end health care rescissions: when insurance companies cancel coverage when you get sick, and to stop insurers from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions. Although the Governor vetoed the legislation after receiving bipartisan support, President Obama included similar language in health care reform.

• Is a strong supporter of a Single-Payer health care system. De La Torre co-authored a single payer healthcare system bill in the Legislature this year.

• Keeping hospitals open: De La Torre strongly fought the recent closures of hospitals and trauma centers, including Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Hospital in Los Angeles County. He worked closely with hospitals to maintain the safety net for needy Californians.

• Strongly came out against Anthem Blue Cross' 39% fee hikes and attended a rally at Anthem's downtown headquarters to demand fairness for consumers.

• Introduced AB 256 to expand healthcare benefits for public school employees.

• Introduced AB 1962/AB98 to expand coverage for women by requiring insurance companies to include maternity services as part of basic coverage.

• Introduced AB779 to make it easier for struggling families to maintain eligibility for public programs, including Healthy Families and MediCal.

• Introduced AB 2439 to establish a loan repayment program to help doctors who chose to work in poor communities.