State Insurance Regulators Name 28 Consumer Representatives

State insurance regulators have named 28 consumer representatives to advise them on insurance issues during 2012.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) said the 18 funded and 10 unfunded consumer representatives begin their terms Jan. 1, 2012.

Fifteen of the funded consumer representatives participated in the program in 2011, while three are new to the NAIC program.

“The representatives provide valuable perspectives and expertise that help improve the insurance regulatory system for all consumers,” said Kevin M. McCarty, NAIC president-elect and Florida insurance commissioner.

The following are the 2012 NAIC funded consumer liaison representatives:

• Elizabeth Abbott: project director, Health Access
• Amy Bach: executive director, United Policyholders
• Deeia Beck: public counsel, Office of Public Insurance Counsel/Texas
• Brendan M. Bridgeland: director, Center for Insurance Research
• Bonnie Burns: training and policy specialist, California Health Advocate
• Sabrina Corlette: research professor, Georgetown University Health Policy Institute
• Brenda J. Cude: professor, University of Georgia
• Joseph P. Ditre’: executive director, Consumers for Affordable Health Care
• Timothy Stoltzfus Jost: professor, Washington and Lee University School of Law
• Kathleen Gmeiner: project director, UHCAN Ohio
• Karrol Kitt: associate professor, University of Texas at Austin
• Peter Kochenburger: executive director, Insurance Law Center, University of Connecticut School of Law
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Sonja L. Larkin-Thorne: consumer advocate, Avon, Conn.
• Sarah Lueck: health policy analyst, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
• Jennifer Mishory: deputy director, Young Invincibles
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Andrea J. Routh: Missouri Health Advocacy Alliance*
• Daniel Schwarcz: associate professor of Law, University of Minnesota Law School
• Barbara Yondorf: president: Colorado Consumer Health Initiative

In addition, there are 10 unfunded consumer representatives:

• Birny Birnbaum: executive director, Center for Economic Justice
• Stephen Finan: senior director of Policy, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network
• Carrie Fitzgerald: senior policy advisor for Health, First Focus
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Howard Goldblatt: director of Government Affairs, Coalition Against Insurance Fraud
• Marguerite Herman: consumer advocate, Project Healthcare
• Adam Linker: health policy analyst, North Carolina Justice Center
• Stephanie Mohl: government relations manager, American Heart Association
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Lynn Quincy: senior policy analyst, Consumers Union
• Stuart Spielman: senior policy advisor and counsel, Autism Speaks
• Cindy Zeldin: executive director, Georgians for a Healthy Future

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