The consumer group that pioneered the most successful insurance premium regulation law in the nation, California's Proposition 103, today said only the extension of such "prior approval" regulation to health insurance can begin to make insurance affordable in the wake of double digit premium increases that have dramatically out-paced wages.
Today, President Obama is expected to announce a health insurance premium rate regulation proposal in the wake of Anthem Blue Cross's recently announced 39% rate hike. Anthem Blue Cross is the California subsidiary of the nation's largest insurer, WellPoint Inc.
The President's proposal would create a Health Insurance Rate Authority which will "provide needed oversight at the Federal level and help States determine how rate review will be enforced and monitor insurance market behavior." Furthermore, "if a rate increase is unreasonable and unjustified, health insurers must lower premiums, provide rebates, or take other actions to make premiums affordable." However, the proposal outline does not provide detail of whether the review would occur before the rate increase is mailed to consumers or what facts would be considered to determine if the rate is "unreasonable and unjustified."