HHS Awards $46M in Grants to Crack Down on Unreasonable Insurance Rate Hikes

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has announced grant awards of $46 million, made available through the Affordable Care Act, to 45 states and the District of Columbia to help improve oversight of insurance rate hikes, according to an HHS news release.

The Affordable Care Act provides States with $250 million in Health Insurance Premium Review Grants over five years to improve how states review proposed health insurance premium increases and hold insurance companies accountable for unjustified premium increases. Just 26 states and the District of Columbia currently have the authority to reject a proposed increase that is excessive or lacks justification.

States receiving the funds have proposed to use the funding in a variety of ways, including:

• Additional legislative authority: Fifteen States and the District of Columbia will pursue additional legislative authority to create a more robust program for reviewing or requiring advanced approval of proposed health insurance premium increases to ensure that they are reasonable;
• Expand the scope of health insurance premium review: Twenty-one states and the District of Columbia will expand the scope of their current health insurance review, for example by reviewing and requiring pre-approval of rate increases for additional health insurance products in their state;
• Improve the health insurance premium review process: All 46 state grantees will require insurance companies to report more extensive information through a new, standardized process to better evaluate proposed premium increases and increase transparency across the marketplace;
• Make more information publicly available: Forty-two states and the District of Columbia will increase the transparency of the health insurance premium review process and provide easy-to-understand, consumer friendly information to the public about changes to their premiums; and
• Develop and upgrade technology: All state grantees will develop and upgrade existing technology to streamline data sharing and put information in the hands of consumers more quickly.
  

"States will use these grant dollars in the way that makes the most sense for their insurance consumers," Jay Angoff, director of the Office of Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, said in the release. "As we continue to implement the new health insurance reform law, we will continue to work with states to ensure they have the tools they need to ensure the stability of the marketplace, keep costs low and provide consumers with increased transparency, choice and quality they need to make the best healthcare decisions for their businesses and families."

Additional resources from this $250 million program will be available in subsequent years to further strengthen state health insurance premium review procedures.

Read the HHS release on health insurance rate increases.

Read other coverage on health insurance rate increases:

- States to Receive $250M to Fight Insurance Rate Hikes 

- HHS Sec. Sebelius Calls on Anthem Blue Cross of California to Justify Rate Hikes