The existing system pairs an elected insurance commissioner with a separate agency under Gov. Jerry Brown. According to the report, the current system has confused consumers, driven up costs and could now potentially hurt the state’s ability to implement healthcare reforms.
Healthcare advocates discussed blending the Department of Insurance and the Department of Managed Health Care together on Thursday. Together, the two agencies regulate health coverage for more than 24 million California residents. According to the report, combining the system would change a decades-old system that gives authority over traditional health insurers to the insurance commissioner and authority over HMOs to other departments.
The two regulators enforce different laws and have different requirements of health insurers; they are also viewed as very different in their treatment of insurers and in their enforcement powers.
Both regulators said they were open to the idea of a consolidation but that there were no commitments as of yet.
Read the LA Times report on California insurance regulators.
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