Rate Review
Quick links:
NH Insurance Commissioner Releases First Annual Health Insurance Rate Report
State Level: SB 392, Requiring an Annual Public Hearing on Health Insurance Premium Costs and Trends
Ever look at your health insurance premiums and wonder ...
- How much of health insurance premium cost is for actual health care costs?
- How much of it is for insurance company administrative costs, and what are those costs?
- How much is for insurance company profit?
- Of what’s considered health care costs in my / our premiums, how much of it is cost for my own actual care / my family’s care?
- How much of it is cost that is shifted to me / us by health care providers – in the form of premium cost – to cover the uncompensated care costs of the uninsured, or to cover the cost of what hospitals and doctors claim is underpayment by public insurance programs like Medicare and Medicaid?
- What are the factors that appear to be driving these various cost components?
Many health care consumers - particularly families and small businesses - have asked these questions. Until recently, it was hard to know the answers. However, rate review - the process by which consumers and states can ascertain how premium dollars are being spent and put in safeguards to ensure consumers are receiving what they are paying for - will help shed some light on health care costs and trends in our state and country. Read below to hear what is happening at the state and federal level concerning rate review.
Download a fact sheet about Rate Review
NH Insurance Commissioner Releases First Annual Health Insurance Rate Report
On April 13, 2012, NH Insurance Commissioner Roger Sevigny announced the release of the Commissioner’s First Annual Health Insurance Rate Report. This report focuses on health insurance premium rates and cost drivers and follows a public hearing held in October 2011.
Click here for a press release including key findings.
Click here for the full report.
Voices staff is analyzing the report and will share more information in the near future.
Previous Updates about Rate Review:
Federal Level: New Health Law & Rate Review Tool Gives Consumer More Information About Premium Increases
Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, has announced a new online tool to give consumers more information regarding premium increases.
Starting September 1, 2011, health insurance companies must inform consumers when they want to increase insurance rates for individual or small group policies by an average of 10% or more. That information is now publicly available on HealthCare.Gov, where consumers can search by state to learn about potential increases. Consumers have the opportunity to submit comments and share views on the proposed rate increase on that site; at the same time, independent experts will determine whether or not the increase is reasonable.
According to HHS, rate review has proven successful at increasing competition and lowering health care costs. It cites examples such as North Carolina, which saved beneficiaries $4.5 million by reducing a rate increase request from the State’s Blue Cross Blue Shield plan; and California, where Aetna scrapped a proposed 19 percent rate increase after a close review found math errors that undermined the need for the hike.
More information, and the consumer website, available here: http://www.healthcare.gov/blog/2011/10/ratereview10072011.html
State Level: SB 392, Requiring an Annual Public Hearing on Health Insurance Premium Costs and Trends, and an Annual Report with Recommendations and Strategies for Addressing Premium Affordability Concerns, and Establishing Hospital Cost Rate Equity for Uninsured Consumers
In 2010, the NH Voices for Health network strongly supported SB 392, which seeks to increase transparency regarding health coverage costs in New Hampshire.
SB 392 increases transparency regarding the health coverage costs burdening consumers, small businesses and the state by requiring the Insurance Department to hold annual public hearings to identify factors contributing to health coverage cost increases, including health care costs, administrative costs, and insurer profits. The Department is charged with publicly reporting its findings and recommending strategies that NH can implement to sensibly contain health coverage costs. SB 392 also provides immediate relief to uninsured consumers by prohibiting hospitals from billing uninsured patients more than the average amount charged to insurance companies for the same services.
Following passage of SB 392 by the legislature, the Governor signed the bill into law on July 1, 2010.
