Plain Talk: North Dakota Insurance Commissioner Got Individual Insurance Rates 20 Percent Lower, Here’s What He Wants to Do Next

Most North Dakotans get their insurance through some sort of group plan, usually through an employer, but our state is also a unique place. We have a lot of self-employed entrepreneurs, people like ranchers and farmers and other small business owners, and they’re responsible for purchasing their own insurance.

The only news most of us expect to hear about insurance premiums, year after year, is that they’re going up. Under the leadership of incumbent Republican Insurance Commissioner Jon Godfread, North Dakotans in the individual health insurance market can expect their premiums to go down soon.

Some 20 percent, on average.

How did that happen? Godfread discusses on this episode of Plain Talk.

He talks about his work to shrink his office’s budget – it’s down nearly 8 percent since he was elected – even as he helps more North Dakotans understand the work it does. He also talks about what the future holds for insurance in North Dakota, including some challenges, such as self-driving cars.

“If two autonomous vehicles hit each other, who is at fault?” he asks.

It’s a problem policymakers like Godfread will have to solve.

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