As of Sept. 1, health insurers seeking rate increases of more than 10 percent for individual or small group plans in a single year must undergo reviews from local authorities or HHS. HHS cannot tell a plan to curb rate hikes even after a review, but the health plans must explain why the rate hikes are necessary on their websites in understandable terms.
Many state legislatures have given insurance commissioners or other bodies the power to reject hikes if they are deemed excessive. As of Dec. 2010, 30 states had approved prior authorization authority over the individual market, 23 over the small group market and 20 over large group plans, according to the report.
The grants to the 28 states are the second round of funds from the $250 million set aside in the healthcare reform law to help states expand or improve health plan rate reviews.
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