Patty’s Takes: Kicking off the Community Connect Initiative in Lewis County

Patty’s Takes are a series of posts on issues of importance to Washington state’s Insurance Commissioner, Patty Kuderer.

Too many Washingtonians struggle with insurance issues and don’t know there’s a team of experts waiting to help. That’s what I discovered when I traveled across the state last year before becoming insurance commissioner. So, one of my first initiatives is to bring our services out of Olympia and into as many communities across the state as possible through our Community Connect Initiative.

Everyone is touched by insurance — whether it’s struggling with your Medicare options, dealing with a health insurance denial or understanding an increase in your auto premium. I want my team to be your first thought when you need insurance help or advice.

That’s not to say that your insurance company or your trusted agent can’t be resources, but we have a team of experts standing by to help understand your rights when you’re facing a significant claim or answer your basic questions.

This week we visited Lewis County, meeting elders of the Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation and community members at the Twin Cities Senior Center in Chehalis. We shared a little bit about our agency and the services we provide and had a chance to visit with people about their concerns.

I know many of us rely on social media and virtual connections to build community, but at a time when people feel disconnected from their government it’s more important than ever to show up and connect face-to-face. Learning about the issues you care about and sharing our resources directly with you is one way we can build trust and partnerships that hopefully help us reach even more people who otherwise wouldn’t know about the work we do on your behalf.

This is especially true for the 29 federally recognized Indian tribes with whom we share our state’s resources. I was especially grateful to be so warmly welcomed today by the tribal members we met at the Chehalis Tribal Elder Center and I’m looking forward to visiting and having more conversations with them in the future.

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