Senate Confirms Humphreys as Pennsylvania Insurance Chief

The Pennsylvania Senate this week unanimously confirmed Michael Humphreys to serve as the state’s insurance commissioner. Governor Josh Shapiro nominated Humphreys, who previously served as acting commissioner, to the top position at the Pennsylvania Insurance Department in January.

Humphreys succeeded Jessica Altman, who resigned the position last February to become chief executive officer of Covered California.

Humphreys served as the chief of staff beginning in September 2019. Prior to coming to Pennsylvania, he served as assistant commissioner for insurance at the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance, where he oversaw the insurance division.

Humphreys joined the department as it was working with Pennie, the state-based health insurance exchange created by Act 42, to ensure a successful roll-out of the new initiative as a source of affordable coverage.

Humphreys also co-chaired the Behavioral Health Commission for Adult Mental Health that recommended to the legislature how to best spend $100 million on adult behavioral health needs.

When nominated by Shapiro in January, Humphreys was tasked with strengthening enforcement of mental health parity laws. Humphreys said the department took immediate action to identify insurance companies for areas of non-compliance and improve resources for consumers and providers to understand potential parity violations.

Humphreys also launched a new round of market conduct examinations targeting insurer compliance with parity laws.

Humphreys said he is also working to carry out Shapiro’s priority of improved response times for professional licensing and pushing the department to work efficiently for licensed insurance producers.

Humphreys has a Master’s in Public Administration from Bowling Green State University and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University at Buffalo.

Topics Pennsylvania Politics