Montana’s Consumer Advocate

The Montana State Auditor's Office is a criminal justice agency charged with protecting Montana's consumers through insurance and securities regulation and also through informing the public about insurance and securities issues.

Insurance

Insurance is the 3rd largest industry in Montana. Montana’s State Auditor serves as Insurance Commissioner and is responsible for the regulation of this industry. Insurance companies in Montana now do more than $2 billion worth of business every year. The insurance department in the Montana State Auditor’s Office collects more than $40 million dollars every year for the state government through submittal of fees and premium taxes.

As Montana's next State Auditor, Monica will always protect the public interest!  She will also promote the reliability and financial stability of the insurance industry through regulatory efficency which is as simple and painless as possible.  Balancing the needs of both with fairness, common sense, and open lines of communication will be key.

Health Insurance

The State Auditor’s Office plays an important role in working collaboratively with all interests to find solutions to increasing access to health insurance and working to decrease health care costs. The cost of healthcare is prohibitive and one in five Montanans lack health insurance coverage. Monica believes we need to ensure that every Montanan has access to affordable health insurance, preventive care and necessary medical intervention. As a legislative leader, Monica worked hard to insure the legislature successfully passed legislation to create the Insure Montana program for small businesses, supported a prescription drug bill to lower prices for seniors, and supported fully funding the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

Preventive Health Care

Monica believes efforts to promote preventive care need to intensify and many states are recognizing two key principles. First, while all individuals are responsible for preventing illness and practicing healthy behaviors in their daily lives, government leadership can offer information and incentives that make individual behavioral changes more widespread. Second, returns on preventive health care investments may not be immediate, but the long-term benefits outweigh the initial costs.

Insure Montana

As a legislative leader, Monica fought to ensure passage of Insure Montana, a successful small business insurance program which is administered by the State Auditor’s office. Insure Montana is a two part program designed to assist small businesses with the cost of health insurance. The program currently assists small businesses with 2-9 eligible employees through a purchasing pool or a tax credit. Insure Montana has been a huge success in its first year. Approximately 8,000 people, 4,500 of which were previously uninsured, are benefiting from the tax credits, premium incentives, and insurance pooling available through Insure Montana.

Health Information Technology

Implementation of health information technology can play in important role in reducing the cost of health care by streamlining the administrative process and eliminating duplicate and unnecessary procedures. Health information technology will also help patients stay in touch with their providers, ensure proper care and reduce the number of patients who prematurely end their medication. By developing and implementing methods of exchanging and storing patient data, Montana can have a more streamlined and responsive health care system.

Securities

Montana’s State Auditor also serves as the Securities Commissioner. The Securities Department within the State Auditor’s Office protects Montana investors by regulating securities transactions. The department registers securities, brokerage firms, investment advisory firms and individuals working for those firms.

Keeping faith and confidence in the capital markets is critical.  Sixty-five percent of Montanans are invested in the market in some way and have trust in the individual who works with them to invest their hard earned money.  Educating consumers about what to look for when choosing an individual and their firm to invest those dollars is an important step in preventing financial fraud.

State Land Board

Montana’s State Auditor is also one of five members of the State Land Board. As a Land Board Commissioner the State Auditor oversees and helps make decisions about the uses of the 5.2 million acres of land owned by the state. State lands produced $65.2 million dollars in distributable revenues for public schools and institutions in 2006, which was in increase of $8.1 million over 2005.