Georgia Insurance Commission Seeks Reform

The state’s first statewide Hispanic official sees himself as an advocate for consumers.

Words by Arlinda Smith Broady

Photos by Rico Figliolini

With such a diverse population, it’s no wonder that Georgia now has its first Hispanic statewide official.

Georgia Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner John F. King was appointed to the position on July 1, 2019, by Governor Brian Kemp after the elected office holder, Jim Beck, was found guilty of 37 counts of wire fraud, mail fraud, money laundering and tax fraud. Beck was sentenced to more than seven years in federal prison for his role in a $2.5 million fraud scheme. With that dark cloud hanging over the office, King was determined to continue his long-standing commitment to serving the public. Not knowing much about the insurance industry,

King used his experience in law enforcement and the military to restore faith in the office.

King joined the Southwest Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce (SWGC) for a Coffee Connections event in June to explain to members and guests the importance of well-informed consumers when it comes to insurance coverage. He also shared the role his office has in protecting customer rights and gave his constituents the chance to get to know more about him.

The backstory

“People hear my accent, and they scratch their heads,” said King. “They look at me and wonder if I’m Scottish or something similar,” he laughed.

“My father was from Nashville, Georgia in Berrien County.”

It’s a rural area and his father didn’t want to be a farmer, so he went to Savannah and joined the Merchant Marines, sailing all over the world, King said. After that, he worked for United Fruit companies, traveling to Cuba and South America.

Later, King’s father retired in Mexico and met King’s mom. John King was born and raised in Mexico until about age 17, when his dad decided it was time to come to the U.S. and learn English. King graduated from Albany High and went to Georgia State University. Although he joined the Atlanta Police Department as a way to pay his tuition, he fell in love with the job.

“My first assignment was walking a high-crime foot patrol on Auburn Avenue,” he said. “And later, one of my duties was to walk this older lady to her car every night. I thought she must be a big deal to have a police escort every day. Well, it turns out she was Coretta Scott King.”

King’s law enforcement career culminated as Chief of Police for the city of Doraville. His career also includes assignments with the FBI and DEA as a task force agent. In addition to his police work, King is a retired major general in the U.S. Army following his final assignment to NORAD and U.S. Northern Command.

The former commander of the 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team was deployed to Bosnia-Herzegovina, Iraq, Afghanistan and Africa. He served as the military advisor to the Deputy Minister of Interior for Security for Afghanistan, who oversaw an agency of over 96,000 police officers.

“I started as a young private and went to Officer Candidate School with permission of the cavalry officer,” he said. “I retired two months ago, and I want to say to y’all that no other country in the world would allow that. Even in Mexico, I would not have been allowed, as a young, enlisted sol- it’s important for state residents to understand what he does because insurance touches every person in Georgia in one way or another.

Opposite page, Georgia Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner John F. King addressing the meeting. Below middle members of Southwest Gwinnett with John King.

Below, left, Dale Russell recently retired after 37 years with Fox 5 Atlanta as an investigative reporter introduced John King at the Southwest Gwinnett Chamber meeting.

“Every line of insurance — from health, auto, property casualty — touches every Georgian, and we approve all companies that come into the state. We license those companies. We license their products that they sell to you. We investigate companies and individual agents when they do something wrong. And we sanction companies that want to break the rules,” he said. In March 2022, the state levied a $5 million fine against Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, the largest penalty in the insurance agency’s history. At the time, King told reporters that his office had been “inundated with complaints” about the company.

“We don’t want this company to leave the state,” King said. “But they’re still going to have to comply.”

King said he works for the people of the state as a consumer advocate. “That is my number one job, everything else is secondary. My job is to represent Georgians to make sure that the insurance industry is providing good quality services, to try to control some of the costs, but also make sure that the companies don’t go broke and leave the state,” he said.

Looking forward

To do his job well, King talked about some of the major changes that he’s looking at implementing in Georgia.

House Bill 221 gives King the authority to review all car insurance rate filings before they go into effect, closing a loophole that insurers had previously exploited to increase rates by as much as 25% in a single filing.

The agency now has “prior approval” over mandatory minimum limits filings, while giving the commissioner 60 days to review all other filings.

Also, Georgia is in the process of pulling out of the Affordable Care Act.

dier, to [pursue] a military career and [end up as] a retired major general,” he said.

An unexpected path of service

King applied for the position of head of the state National Guard, but Gov. Kemp had different plans for him. The governor called King to his office and asked him about fulfilling the unexpired term of insurance commissioner.

“I told him I don’t know anything about insurance, but he simply said, ‘We’ve got a lot of people that know a lot about insurance, and they can help you,’” King said. “So, I jumped into this to this job knowing that I had to run statewide because it’s an elected position.”

Four years into the job, King has learned a lot about insurance and is on a mission to make sure everyone in the state knows more, too. King said

“We’re moving towards doing that in November, if the federal government allows,” he said adding that with federal approval it may take as long as a year to come to fruition.

“This way, Georgia will be able to regulate the plans and assist consumers with purchasing health insurance in the individual market so they don’t lose money,” he said. “We know the market in Georgia much better than someone from Washington. …Right now, there’s no accountability.” ##

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