At Insurance, Kreidler

Mike Kreidler, state insurance commissioner, has presided over a market that has served consumers well and kept the carriers healthy. That is a presumptive argument for keeping Democrat Kreidler in office.

At issue now is whether the big-three health insurers — Premera, Regence and Group Health — are too healthy, meaning too wealthy. Kreidler's principal opponent, Republican populist Curtis Fackler, thinks so.

Fackler, the former owner of a Spokane payroll company, is running as an independent. He supports House Bill 1203, a measure by Rep. Maralyn Chase, D-Shoreline, to require companies to make large refunds to consumers.

It is an intriguing argument, but we sense little community push behind it.

Fackler has no elective experience and almost no money. Further, he is running for a position that requires balancing the consumer's immediate interest in saving money with the long-term interest in strong carriers.

With Kreidler there is a sense of that balance, and with Fackler, not so much.

The other candidate, Seattle insurance broker John Adams, has less to say and hardly campaigns at all.

We endorse Kreidler.