Health Insurance Forum

Health insurance in Texas

by mahir on 20/08/10 at 9:35 am

As piece of the fresh health care law, Texas will get $1 million to evaluate Texas health insurance premiums, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sibelius announced today. States will get $250 million over five years to review unreasonable rate increases and hold insurance companies more accountable for rate increases, according to a news release from HHS. The first round of grants totals $46 million.
Texas does not now review the rates. An article in the New York Times Saturday describes how states like Texas don’t have the power to impose the new consumer protection standards.
But John Greeley, a spokesman for the Texas Insurance Department, said this afternoon that the state has the authority to review rates if they increase 50 percent or more in a single year and if a customer complains. The authority to review unreasonable rates also is a part of the state’s insurance law, he said, but it has never been applied to health insurance. Greeley added that he doesn’t know if legislation would be needed to follow the new federal law.
The grant announced today will enable Texas to:
•    Gather data so it can do an in detail review of health insurance premiums.
•    Develop a public revelation process to include information from insurers justifying their premium increases.
•    Develop technology for the data study and rate reviews