Of the many consumer protection tools available to health insurance regulators, one of the most powerful is the ability to review premium rates. Yet, some states have made recent decisions to abdicate this authority to federal regulators. Sally McCarty discusses recently enacted legislation in Florida that suspends the state’s rate review requirements – and what it means for insurers, regulators, and consumers.
Rhode Island’s insurance regulators are using their rate review authority in innovative ways to make premiums more affordable for consumers – and tackle some of the underlying drivers of health care cost increases. Sabrina Corlette takes a look at Rhode Island’s most recent action to push the rate review envelope.
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) continues its work to support states’ implementation of the ACA. One work group is taking on the daunting task of updating dozens of model state health insurance laws to reflect the ACA’s new consumer protections. Sabrina Corlette joined their most recent call and provides an overview of their progress.
An interesting thing happened in Oregon last week after the Division of Insurance publicly posted insurers’ proposed premium rates for 2014. After seeing their competitors’ prices, two insurers asked the Division to allow them to reduce their proposed rates. Sabrina Corlette examines these recent developments and their implications for consumers.
A new report from Oregon examines the effect of that state’s rate review program – and proposes innovative ways to use rate review to encourage higher quality, more efficient health care. Sabrina Corlette takes a look.
On Monday, Vermont became the first state to release preliminary rate filings for plans to be sold in their health insurance exchange in 2014. Christine Monahan crunches the numbers to see what they mean for consumers.
A handful of states are taking innovative approaches to the regulation of health insurance premium rates to help make coverage more affordable. Sabrina Corlette takes a look at these new strategies and the impact they could have on the cost of health care.
Our friend and CHIR colleague, Mila Kofman, has been named the Executive Director of the health insurance exchange for D.C. CHIRblogger Sabrina Corlette writes about this exciting new chapter.
The election results mean full steam ahead with implementation of the Affordable Care Act. The ultimate success of the law will hinge on decisions yet to be made by the federal agencies and the states. Sabrina Corlette blogs about the flurry of regulations and guidance we can expect in the coming days and weeks.
The Office of Personnel Management has released new information about the Multi-State Plan Program, designed to inject new competition into state insurance markets. Sabrina Corlette examines their proposal and highlights some key issues for health care decision-makers.
The opinions expressed here are solely those of the individual blog post authors and do not represent the views of Georgetown University, the Center on Health Insurance Reforms, any organization that the author is affiliated with, or the opinions of any other author who publishes on this blog.
