Insurance Commissioner Goodwin Engages Students, Business Leaders at ASU

"Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do ..." (with a nod to JFK and Ted Sorensen) - NC Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin speaking on 17 Nov 2011 to ASU students, faculty, and NC business leaders at Appalachian State University in beautiful Boone, North Carolina. College students from ASU, UNC-Charlotte, and East Carolina University were preparing for their annual "Insurance Jeopardy" competition.

NC Insurance Commissioner Helps Lead Raleigh "People's Processional" to Ring in New Year

For a News & Observer photo of NC Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin marching in the People's Processional on December 31, 2010, go to this link here. This parade is the City of Raleigh's regular prelude to the big countdown to midnight and welcoming the new year.

Tens of thousands of revelers gathered along the parade route, with many hundreds of persons also in the parade.

Standing in front of Commissioner Goodwin are his daughter, Madison, and niece, Autumn, both of whom are holding the parade banner. To the left of him is NC Secretary of State Elaine Marshall.

"It is both fitting and proper for me to participate in the 'People's Processional' because it is my job - my duty - to protect our people each and every day, making sure that every day folks have access to insurance that is fairly priced and in a market that's solvent," said Insurance Commissioner Goodwin.

Goodwin Launches Re-vamped Campaign, Facebook Websites for New Year

Now that 2011 began mere minutes ago, please visit North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin's brand new campaign Facebook page (I hope you'll "Like It" and recommend it to your Facebook friends!) and also take a short stroll through his completely revised, new campaign website which is linked on the site and in this very sentence.

Both the website homepage (www.WayneGoodwin.org) and the Facebook wall have a short intro video from Commissioner Goodwin on them.

Happy New Year, friends and visitors ... Onward to 2012!

Part 2: Capeless Crusader Wayne Goodwin Fights Insurance Fraud

The exploits of North Carolina’s Insurance Commissioner as crime fighter have been well-documented on this site and in other places, including countless news accounts and the official website of the Department of Insurance.

As a public service to those who join Wayne Goodwin in the never-ending battle for Truth, Justice and the American Way, here is a sample of insurance fraud cases closed in recent months by his team.

They include:

An agent who submitted false life insurance applications in Lenoir County

Two sisters, both of whom are insurance agents, who embezzled premiums in Durham

A Cary subcontractor who submitted a fraudulent certificate of insurance to a homebuilder

A Stanly County woman who exploited her grandmother for insurance money in Albemarle

A Greensboro insurance agent who also embezzled monies

A Burlington jewelry thief whose name - Minx VonParis DeMaxzmohr - is worthy of a James Bond villain

A car shop owner and customer in Martin County jointly conspiring to swindle insurance monies

"As our Insurance Commissioner and the elected head of a law enforcement agency, I take protecting consumers and fighting insurance crime very seriously,” said Wayne Goodwin. “It’s not about partisanship, but right versus wrong, justice versus the lawbreaker, and competence versus inexperience, as well as protecting State-based regulation for the benefit of consumers and small businesses each and every day.”

North Carolina’s Commissioner of Insurance and the Department of Insurance employ 20 sworn law enforcement officers dedicated to investigating claims of insurance fraud. So far in 2010, these criminal investigators have seen more than 268 cases successfully closed with more than $18.5 million in restitution and recoveries, 54 criminal convictions and 89 arrests.

An estimated 10 cents of every dollar paid in premiums goes toward the payment of fraudulent claims. To report suspected fraud, contact the Department of Insurance Criminal Investigations Division at 919-807-6840. Callers may remain anonymous. Information is also available at www.ncdoi.com.

Accordingly, the battle for justice and public security is never-ending. To do his part, it may be comforting to note that Insurance Commissioner Goodwin has already been described by an "Under the Dome" blogger for the Raleigh News & Observer in October 2009 as

"apparently an action hero, by elected-official standards."

And as every good action hero knows, it is a 24-7 job.

NC Insurance Commissioner's Leadership Highlighted on Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show"

For Wayne Goodwin Cutting Insurance Rates, Ordering Refunds

Wayne Goodwin, North Carolina's elected Commissioner of Insurance, has reached another cultural, personal and political milestone: He found himself referenced this week on the highly-acclaimed national news/comedy program, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. (Covered in greater written detail, inter alia, on The Progressive Pulse and here, here, and here.)

In front of many millions of TV viewers, it was said:

"We have empowered state insurance commissioners to review the rate hikes that are taking place in states. And in some states like North Carolina, they have already used it and rolled back premium increases by 25 percent."

For further context, go to prior coverage at other news and blog links here and here.

Goodwin has received further high praise and recognition for cutting health insurance rates by approximately 25% from what was filed by the insurance carrier and for ordering a return of $156 million back to 215,000+ North Carolina consumers. This is a capstone to the plethora of positive feedback the Tar Heel insurance regulator has received over the last five weeks.

And if one were to include other lines of insurance such as automobile and workers compensation, Goodwin has cut rates and saved more than $650 million and ordered refunds totalling $265+ million, plus recovered more than $25 million more for victims of insurance fraud, all for North Carolina consumers, families and small businesses in less than two years in office.