Secret of Health

Review of the Federal State of the health insurance rate increases began, double-digit price increases must be justified

New rules bring transparency and reduce the costs to families and businesses

Today, insurers health seeks to increase their rate of 10 per cent or more must apply to the States or federal reviewers to determine whether they are reasonable. This program of control of rates, established by the affordable care Act, will bring greater transparency, accountability and, in many cases, the cost for families and small business owners struggling to afford coverage.

In a growing number of States, regulators now have the power to refuse or reduce the rate increases deemed excessive. The insurers who insist on moving forward with the increase in the rate two-digit are required to post their rationales on their Web site, and State and federal regulators will be after them as well.

"For too long, families and small employers were at the mercy of the insurance rate increases which often put coverage out of their reach." Review rates will shed a bright light on the behavior of the industry and competition on the market of drive to reduce costs, ", said Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services." "We are pleased to partner with States to bring this new important protection for consumers and employers.

As of today, insurers proposes two-digit increases will need to provide clear information that indicates what factors are originally proposed increases. Experts will examine closely the trends underlying cost information in healthcare to instances of the flag when insurance companies are unfairly raising costs. This means that consumers will no longer speak of their insurance company; they will have an independent expert examines their proposed rate increase.

From mid-September, consumers in each are State, go to HealthCare.gov to view the easy access of consumer-friendly information disclosure explaining proposed increases that are 10 percent or higher than last year. Consumers will see a summary of the main factors leading rate increases and the explanation provided by the insurance for why the proposed increase is necessary. And, for the first time, consumers in every State will be also given the opportunity to comment on the proposed large increases.

"Consumers affordable care Act is no longer navigate health insurance market blindly and on their own, said Steve Larsen, Director of the consumer and the supervision of insurance Information Center." "". The next time that your insurance company tries to raise your premium by two digits, it will have to give you and speed control specialists a good reason - or be labelled as unjustified or in some States refused. »

States continue to have primary responsibility for the review of insurance rates. Because many States lacked the resources to perform the high rate of examination, the affordable care Act offers 250 million in grants to review premium disease States over five years. These new resources will improve how States consider the proposed health insurance rate increases and empower insurance for unjustified premium increases. States and territories are already using $ 48 million in grants in the rate review and HHS makes additional $ 200 million to States and territories to strengthen and improve their rate of revision process.

"With our affordable care Act grant funds, our reviews rate are more extensive, and we recently proposed to use the grant funds future to incorporate public hearings in our examinations of rates," said Oregon Insurance Division administrator Teresa Miller. "We have already received valuable feedback from consumer groups and look forward to continue to improve our rate review process"

For more information about the speed control and today's announcement, please visit: http://www.healthcare.gov/news/factsheets/ratereview09012011a.html

For more information on the significant achievements of State with the review of rates, please visit: http://www.healthcare.gov/news/factsheets/ratereview09012011b.html